What tax do you most hate

[Taxta]

I’m torn between stamp duty and inheritance tax.

@ShanghaiDiva I agree and i never agreed with the nil band being able to be passed between spouses. If I had my way apart from a few specific carve outs (so for example a dependent child /partner) all inheritance would be taxed as income.

Anyway for the vast majority of us IHT will never really be an issue at all, so I see if as something not really worth spending too much time getting angry about.

Absolutely every person will vary depending on many factors as you point out, but this is just the average.

Actually 53% of the working population are net beneficiaries of State spending and 47% are net contributors to State spending.

Obviously children and retirees are excluded from this figure as they are unable to work as well as being significant net beneficiaries.

I agree. Same size property, but 4 working adults in one, and single retiree in another, only eligible for 25% discount. I would bring back community charge (poll tax). Much fairer that every adult pays.

People say IHT but it's one of the easiest taxes to avoid. Honestly, just a bit of sensible planning is all that's needed and you'll be absolutely fine.

I hate Stamp Duty - both as a concept and a legislation (honestly, it's awful).

There is no foolproof way. Not one.

Homes shouldn't be investments, even though people use them as such.

That is part of the problem with housing along with the fact that housing hasn't been treated the same way as other investments, which has caused money to pile into them further inflating prices.

Fortunately it looks like times are changing.

There is in quite a lot of cases - and if that's not enough you can always take out inter vivos cover on gifts.

Name one please.

There’s about 45 billion in unpaid tax in the UK. Imagine if someone focussed on that!

Stamp duty

I’d might like to leave some money to my best friends and their children, friends who have been like brothers / sisters to me for many many years and their children who I have looked after like I would my own.

I refer you to the inter vivos insurance I already mentioned.

But that isn't protecting your estate, that is giving your money away whilst you are still alive.

Giving your money away while alive is one of the best ways of protecting your estate...

It is, if you have it spare.

But doesn't help you much if vast majority is tied up in a house.

Poll tax wasn't based on ability to pay either and was also a regressive tax. It was a flat charge per person of voting age. Ability to pay takes into account income and charges more to people with higher incomes.

If most is tied up in your house, you've only got IHT if the house is worth over half a million (single person) or a million (couple). So not a problem at all for the vast majority of home owners who don't have substantial other wealth.

Income tax - it drags people down who are trying to improve themselves and stops hard work from paying

I think inheritance should be higher tbh. Unearned windfalls are a huge driver on inequality.

You can't get rid of income tax!

VAT on sanitary products.

Then you either downsize or ensure that your house is covered by the NRB and RNRB. For a married couple or civil partners, this goes up to £1m combined.

So you can give away liquid assets and retain a house potentially worth up to £1m before IHT would apply.

I know how it works, I am just saying there is nothing foolproof.

There is stuff you can do, but nothing foolproof.

stamp duty is awful

You mean apart from all of the stuff just discussed.