Die and IT'll get you :O)

Stephen Byers, a man who is ever the bandwagon jumper, has 'called for' the scrapping of Inheritance Tax which apparently is now netting twice the number of estates since 1997 when New Labour gained power in the UK.  The main reason why this tax is so hated is that the bar is set so low at £285K that almost anyone with property is in fear of their descendants gaining nothing from their lifetime of investment and savings.

 

I agree that it's iniquitous that people who have paid taxes - on their lifetime of income and purchases - including not only the earnings used to pay their mortgage but also the equally iniquitous 'stamp duty' on the purchase of their home - should then face having their estate - ie anything left after they die - taxed at 40%.  This tax is without doubt a disincentive to low and average income families to buy property or to save for their old age. 

 

However I don't think that Inheritance Tax should be completely scrapped.  I have the occasional socialist bone left in my body and altho taking IT from the estates of billionaires may not be 'fair' from the individual billionaire's point of view imo it's socially fair that those who are very very substantially richer than most should, once they have left this world, contribute towards the wellbeing not only of their own legatees but of the country which gave them the chance of becoming so rich.  I think that because I believe that no-one becomes rich except at the expense of someone else - and the descendants of all those someone-elses should get a little communal payback.

 

If I were Chancellor I would raise the bar for IT to estates valued at £750K.  That would remove the burden from the majority of average income families but would still continue to bring into the public purse substantially more than was gained through IT when this government came into power.