“Inheritance tax is deeply unpopular because it is largely a tax on money which has already been taxed once and has often been accumulated over a life time with the intention to be left to family members.
The threshold of £325,000 has remained unchanged for sometime now and there are calls for the unpopular tax to be abolished or fundamentally reformed.
Exemptions are complicated and mean that it can be classed as a voluntary tax for the super rich.
Reform could be a vote winner for the Conservative party as we approach the election.”
Nigel Holland
- ‘Unjust’ inheritance tax is levy that Britons resent the most, poll by The Sunday Telegraph has found.
- Only scrapping the charge will tackle ‘fundamental distaste’ for its intrusion say financial experts
- Nearly half (43 per cent) of British adults think the levy on deceased people’s estates is unfair, according to a survey of more than 1,000 British adults carried out by Ipsos Mori last month.
- It was closely followed by council tax and fuel duty, deemed unfair by 40 per cent. The “most fair” taxes were those on higher earners, tobacco and alcohol.
- £8.4bn expected to be raised within 5 years.
- The number of families forced to pay the tax – charged on estates worth more than £325,000 – has almost doubled since the Conservatives came to power.
- the so-called “seven-year rule” allows families to give away sums of unlimited value as long as they survive the gift by seven years. But this is of little use to those whose wealth is mainly tied up in property.
- Estates of £1.5- to £2 million pay an average tax rate of 20 per cent, estates worth more than £7.5 million pay 17 per cent on average as a result of tax reliefs such as breaks on agricultural land or higher-risk shares.