100% inheritance tax?

[Kendodd]

Or 95%, something like that.
Thought experiment.
How would it pan out?

No idea if I will inherit anything but I certainly need help in my 60s as my pension isn't great and my house needs a ton of work.

The same way they already pay for people who need care in their old age but can’t afford to pay for it. It comes from council tax.

The same way they already pay for people who need care in their old age but can’t afford to pay for it. It comes from council tax.

You mean national insurance

No ones hiding anything here. Parents worked themselves in to the ground in the car industry. PIL we're a mining family. Busted their guts to leave us something

I've worked 40 years in the nhs and nursed all 4 parents and PIL at the end of their lives

If you think I'm not trying to leave my kids something after I die, well jog on.

@ClocksGoingBackwards

However its funded, its not enough

Give all yours away then OP.

I'm making careful plans so that my children inherit everything and don't have to pay any inheritance tax whatsoever. Why on earth should anyone be taxed on anything they have already paid tax on?

@SavingsThreads no I don’t.

@Topgub Exactly. There are lots of reasons why 95% inheritance tax won’t benefit the country.

Yet again the not-particularly well off are brought to task for getting some minor financial benefit, while the billionaires and non-doms enjoy their loopholes and 100ft yachts/Tuscan villas etc.

It’s as bad as when people moan about ‘scroungers on benefits’ when Amazon could probably clear the UK’s annual debt if they paid the correct amount of tax.

Go and campaign at the doors of the energy company CEOs if you really want to help the poor OP.

Yes, you do.

Very little council tax is raised to pay for adult social care. The majority comes from social care grants and core council funding, then yes some from taxes on business and individuals set by councils.

If the new PM keeps the new levy (based on NI contributions) then more from there.

I don't agree that inheritance tax should be 100% but I don't see a problem with a 10% across the board inheritance tax, especially as most people will have money through property price increases which won't have been taxed, with a sliding scale for higher value estates. Although I suppose it gets complicated if you start offsetting mortgage interest off housing profit. I also think a small capital gains tax on all property sales wouldn't be a bad thing.

Loopholes allowing people (mainly the very wealthy) to avoid inheritance tax and stash billions offshore to avoid tax need to be closed and companies such as Amazon and Google should be paying fairer amounts of tax.

The wealth divide is what is spoiling society.

@Rapidtango
There already is capital gains tax on asset sales. Property owners based overseas now pay U.K. tax on property sales and this is the case even if the property is in a wrapper which they sell.
The problem with inheritance tax at 10% across everything is that we all end up paying it even if we are not wealthy. Business owners would need to take out life insurance to pay the tax and because insurance is pooled risk, it affects the cost for everyone.
The exemption for IHT is £500k per person so a couple can generally leave £1m tax free. About 70 % of IHT falls on property, mostly buy to let portfolios and high value homes in the south-east.
The exemptions on farms means billionaires invest their money saving 40% in the process and getting subsidies to plant trees.

But then my income tax is being taken from me twice, which is outrageous.

if I had to, I'd get it out in cash and burn it before giving it to the state.

why would you want to do this?

put everyone on PAYE, ditch tax loopholes etc. lots of ways to raise revenue. but stop people passing money to loved ones? So wrong.

suppose my goddaughter inherits from me, starts a business and employs people? Surely that's a good thing?

Your daughters business would be free of IHT if she died after two years.

No one is stopping anyone who feels guilty about their inheritance giving it away

it’s so important to many parents to be able to leave something to allow their children less financil hardship

and those that have money can pay someone to kind money if they do wish to

It’s not really true that most inheritances have already been taxed though, is it? For small estates (by which I mean under a couple of million) the bulk is generally from property, the gains on which (as a private residence) have never been taxed, savings/investments in ISAs, the capital gains on which have never been taxed, or the passing on of the residual of a pension ‘pot’, which was also never taxed on the way in or on the gains.

@Kendodd you are very welcome to make a voluntary contribution to HMRC when you inherit.

I think this is something we need to publicise more - that people who bleat on about being willing to pay more tax, can pay more tax very easily.

www.gov.uk/guidance/voluntary-payments-donations-to-government

Is that to me?

apols if not. If so, you have misunderstood my post.

These are excellent points. Really excellent.

Those benefits are not accidental though - the wealth creation has been enhanced by state subsidies. What IHT tries to do is claw back 40% of that surplus on death. On the basis if you did not need it you give it back. That is what IHT tries to do.

The tax subsidies on pensions and ISAs are not going to be enjoyed by people who never have anything to save due to poor opportunities, leading to low pay, zero-hours contracts etc. For them these tax benefits are mostly unascertainable.

My Mum inherited something like £4k or £5k. My Dad died at the age of 55, he hadn't inherited anything. My Mum died 4 years ago and I inherited £60k odd (from the sale of the family home & her savings)
They both worked hard all their lives. I know I didn't do anything to earn this inheritance but honestly if the great and the good can lock their fortunes up in trusts and tax dodges to pass them on to the next generation, then why the hell should such a modest amount be given to the government, for shysters like the present lot to gift to their mates?

That is the stupidest thing I've seen all day. An inheritance is how most people are able to get on the property ladder these days.

Couldn't agree more.

Ridiculous idea.

biggest change needed to IHT law is a. Tractor driving test. Farmland is IhT free. So many millionaires buy up farmland purely to escape IHt and it is a big driving factor in the cost of land.

And rollover. A farmer will earn pots of money selling to developers. If he buys farmland with it within three years there's no tax to pay. Completely screws farmers with no development and doesn't seem fair to me.

There is already a way round it. Very very simplistically, life insurance put into a trust (so it is not part of your estate) can be used to make payments directly to named beneficiaries. Or you can used a whole life insurance policy (again in trust) to offset the IHT bill.

As I said that is an incredibly simplistic overview and anyone leaving an estate over the IHT thresholds would need to take independent legal advice to ensure it was all done legally.

Sadly those with very large estates will be aware of this and will have financial planning on pls e fir their death. The ones IHT hits hardest are those j who haven't made/reviewed their wills. A decent solicitor should point out the benefits of financial planning for death.

TBH I'd sooner set fire to my money than pay 95% IT.It's mine and I can give it to who I please

The UK already has the 5th highest inheritance tax rate in the OECD. Although the US has the same rate the cap is over $5m. Only Japan, S Korea and France are higher. It is zero in Australia and New Zealand. I think many wealthy people would just move abroad.