Two different societies
My two home nations are very different, and it's reflected in the tax code:
In the UK, inheritance tax is applicable (at a declining rate) for transfers made up to seven years before death. Transfers of assets from a parent to the children prior to that are not taxed, and also note that there is a very significant tax-free allowance (£600,000). Nevertheless, inheritance tax raises roughly £3.5 billion a year.
In Greece, the tax on transfers of assets from parents to kids is waged at virtually the same level as inheritance tax - if that was not the case, inheritance tax would probably raise no revenue at all. In fact, a lot of families transfer assets two generations down the line (i.e. grandparents to grandchildren) to avoid paying too much tax, and they usually do so long before death (to avoid higher income tax charges).
