To think it’s unfair that some people get inheritance while others start with nothing?

@AzurePanda can you link to that as I've never read that?

Over half of UK households are not net tax payers.

I know & it's not that unusual but we have the demographic issue now.

Well, life in general is unfair.

I have known all my life that I won't be getting a bean, and that's OK. Can't say I've ever spent any time worrying or hand-wringing over it!

Make sure they arrange to be born to parents who don’t get Alzheimer’s or any other disease that requires costly care either!

Although presumably the people on here so confident they will pass money on (or receive it) are all equally fine with the big arbitrary wheel of fortune turning away from their family as they are with it turning away from others.

Hell no!
Im an individual who has received / will not receive any inheritance from my family. Myself and my husband graft and save to be able to pass on an inheritance of some form to our children. We live to a budget to allow us to save, we live very modestly day to day and only splurge occasionally.

Nobody can tell me that it's wrong to want to set your children off on a good financial foot!
My children won't be rich, but they'll always have what they need and be secure when we eventually pass.

@WednesburyUnreasonable but people who have accumulated estates which are large enough to incur a sizeable IHT liability are in a strong position to fund their own care needs - isn’t this a good thing ?

Of course its unfair but life is unfair.

The only thing that annoys me is people saying they'd rather have their parents back than their inheritance. Of course you would.... people who don't get inheritances would rather have their parents back too.

I mean, why even say it??

What happened to personal accountability? It often seems that people spend their time looking over their shoulder at what others have rather than focusing on how they can change their own fortune. Dwelling on what’s ‘not fair’.
i won’t have much of an inheritance (if any!) but I work hard to control my own destiny as much as possible. My husband and I worked hard, made good decisions and saved for financial independence. We also feel incredibly blessed to be healthy, have children without disabilities and so the freedom to make these choices - I recognise our privilege in this. There’s a lot of good fortune and as a result, we will be able to assist our children far more.
My mum always says focus on an ‘attitude of gratitude’ - there’s a lot in that.

As someone who’s gotten nothing not even £20 from my parents, this post is ridiculous. Why should people have to suffer because they have wealthy parents. I’ll certainly leave property and money to my children knowing how difficult life is. There shouldn’t be any tax on inheritance at all imo.

OP is on a wind-up. They never came back.

This.

Not only that, I'm nearly 50 and an inheritance (if it's not gobbled up by the care system and HMRC first) is the only thing that will allow me to not have to work 55 hour/6 day weeks for the foreseeable future.

Not everyone who inherits is landed gentry ffs!

Over half of UK households are not net tax payers.

I really don't understand why people post this as if it's some shocking revelation.

20 yrs of todays state pension is approx £230k so to have paid enough tax for that you need to be earning 50k for 21 years. Then what about the costs of your education and healthcare?! And with more retired households of course more are not net tax payers.
It's why immigration is going nowhere.

The only thing that annoys me is people saying they'd rather have their parents back than their inheritance. Of course you would.... people who don't get inheritances would rather have their parents back too.

I don't get this either

Ok. Here's the thing. Take Parents A and Parents B. A hand down inheritance to child A. B don't. Child A uses that as deposit on a house or to pay for training or to start a business. Bit more money goes to grandchild A. Child B doesn't have that leg up and works a worse paid job. Grandchild B doesn't inherit anything, can't buy and pays rent to Grandchild A, who in the meantime has bought a couple of buy to lets.

It spirals. Inheritance tax is the single biggest brake on inequality. It rewards effort and entrepreneurship and not just waiting about until your parents die.

but people who have accumulated estates which are large enough to incur a sizeable IHT liability are in a strong position to fund their own care needs - isn’t this a good thing

It's only care homes where house value is taken into account. Care in the home excludes this.

If I work hard all my life and I'm about to hand over my savings to my kids you'd say "no you have to give some to my kids too because I spent my time watching daytime TV"

'Mitigates it a bit' is what I said - not that it does away with unfairness entirely. Everything's unfair. Some people are born with good looks, intelligence, a skill of some sort, perfect health etc. Most of us aren't! Money is fairly minor compared to some of those things. But I agree that the gap between the rich and poor is concerning.

There shouldn’t be any tax on inheritance at all imo.

Why not abolish income tax then?

I so agree with you @Kitte321. Why are people so
focused on what others have? I have tonnes of friends far wealthier than us and I wish them nothing but happiness. Their success takes nothing away from my family.

Or take family C where both parents live long healthy lives and die of heart attacks. Inheritance passes to kids. Family D mum gets early onset dementia. Assets get used up in care. How is that fairer than a system where inheritance tax funds care for everyone?

This is exactly my situation. My husband and I worked hard, saved well and never over indulged in things, though we had nice holidays and days out. We never bought flashy cars or expensive tech etc. After losing my husband, I moved house and gave both my children enough for a deposit to buy a house. I have a small house now, with no mortgage and a few savings. If I keep.my health and don't need to spend a fortune on care, I hope to leave my children enough to help them pay off their mortgages or to have a more comfortable retirement. Surely that's fair. I've paid taxes all my life and just want to set my children up for the future.

I don’t see that this is particularly relevant one way or another to the fairness of inheritance.

My point is limited to pointing out some of the people making moral judgments on here about why some families pass down money and others don’t can’t be sure that the future of their own money will play out the way they hope.

And the kids receiving that money will be buying in the same distorted housing market, and thus need all the help they can get.

Inheritance is severely taxed.

40% over a limit of £350,000

{I haven't inherited, but will hopefully leave to DS}

Yes, It seems unfair that some people inherit millions and others don't..but it's usually to do with property that they bought decades ago that has rocketed in price.

@LillyPJ I don't see how it mitigates it a bit because as I said things are getting more unequal not less. It just perpetuates the cycle.

And I don't understand the argument that we should ignore that doctors and the like are leaving the country because salaries are crap & housing is so distorted because some people are born more beautiful than others.

Life isn't fair but we have a problem when young people need significant help to obtain housing security & income isn't as relevant.

@oakleaffy A married couple can leave 1m to their dc before you pay IHT.