Best Of

It has been suggested Burnham will introduce a 10% IHT care levy on all estates

Seems a sensible suggestion but the entitled children of estates may kick and scream

Taxes on death are famously popular with voters.

A universal 10% inheritance tax would raise many billions more pounds than the current 40% inheritance tax, that most people with actual money do an awful lot to avoid.

Arthur Laffer was right.

You’re describing tax avoidance, not the Laffer effect. Common mistake.

Unless you’re suggesting rich people aren’t dying as a result of IHT?

Can you not use pejorative terms like 'tax avoidance' and use the neutral term 'tax minimisation strategies.'

If you implement a one week moratorium on links to the Telegraph we have a deal. The 0.01ppt movement in borrowing costs histrionics earlier today (and posted by some gullible PBer) was just ridiculous.

The Telegraph produces great comedy, who can forget the cyclist doing 50mph.

I've done 52 mph on a cycle no problem. You just need a high enough hill.

Or cliff. Hint: you may only do 52mph once!

Yet another vanilla duplicate

Forcing people to sell family homes on the death of a partner is not a good look. Most families don't hold 10% of the value their assets in easily accessible cash so would either have to sell or take out a loan.

The special carve out for family homes is one of the main reasons the housing market is so ridiculously overpriced, and why pensioners cling onto family homes. We should tax them more than other assets, not the other way round.

But IHT is stupid tax in general. Replace it and CT with an annual 1% property tax.

Seems sensible but would it raise enough to compensate?

More than enough. You’d have up to £40 billion left over, depending on how house prices respond. And most people would get a substantial tax cut, particularly in Red Wall areas.

Council tax = £50 billion
IHT = £8 billion
1% property = £100 billion at current prices

I’d do the rest abolishing Stsmp Duty (£15 billion) and on clearing the deficit.

Yet another vanilla duplicate

Forcing people to sell family homes on the death of a partner is not a good look. Most families don't hold 10% of the value their assets in easily accessible cash so would either have to sell or take out a loan.

The special carve out for family homes is one of the main reasons the housing market is so ridiculously overpriced, and why pensioners cling onto family homes. We should tax them more than other assets, not the other way round.

But IHT is stupid tax in general. Replace it and CT with an annual 1% property tax.

Seems sensible but would it raise enough to compensate?

It's Stamp Duty that needs to go - the plan we've always returned to was 1% property tax (and I think it's less than that) to replace both stamp duty and CT.

If it also needs to cover IHT that's extra.

It has been suggested Burnham will introduce a 10% IHT care levy on all estates

Seems a sensible suggestion but the entitled children of estates may kick and scream

Taxes on death are famously popular with voters.

A universal 10% inheritance tax would raise many billions more pounds than the current 40% inheritance tax, that most people with actual money do an awful lot to avoid.

Arthur Laffer was right.

You’re describing tax avoidance, not the Laffer effect. Common mistake.

Unless you’re suggesting rich people aren’t dying as a result of IHT?

I’m simply saying that a flat 10% tax raises more money than the current 40% arrangements, which mostly hit the middle-classes in the South East who have little more in assets than their own house.

The wealthy spend a lot of effort in setting up trusts and making early gifts to children, that simply wouldn’t occur under a 10% IHT regime.

I don’t disagree - but I think it’s important to distinguish when a tax is undermined by [removed out of sensitivity to TSE], in contrast to when it deters an activity that’s good for the wider economy.

I don’t care at all if the only asset is your £1 million house. It’s just a variation on people whining about being cash poor - sell it, buy a cottage in Yorkshire for £200k and you’ve got £800k left for the pub, yacht and robo-lawnmower.