What are the Tories thinking with insane £1,000,000 inheritance tax threshold proposal for family homes?

[Figmentofmyimagination]

It's almost as if they have completely lost their way.

the people in the properties will have paid a fair amount of tax and council tax in their lifetime and subsidised others

What's a fair amount of tax in your book? Council tax banding is generally known as being pretty unfair given the bands and the majority of people pay it, whether owners or renters.

the people in the properties will have paid a fair amount of tax and council tax in their lifetime and subsidised others

So will people who live in houses which haven't gone up in value by £400K in the last 15 years

You can't have it both ways. If the people in the properties have paid sufficient tax to be subsidising others, then they will have been higher earners. Yet so many people on this thread are claiming that the occupants of £1m+ houses are ordinary working class people from the 70s.

I have worked since I was 17, I paid my own way through further education, I paid for childcare from my already-taxed earnings, I have been fortunate enough not to need to call upon state benefits or support.

I earn a reasonable wage (but not higher rate of tax), my parents worked hard throughout my life and earned a reasonable wage, and therefore had decent pensions. My parents saved hard through their life and when they died their house and money was slightly more than the IHT threshold, so we had to pay inheritance tax on that.

Based on the value of my house (modest property in ok, but not posh area) there would be IHT liability when I die.

I would benefit from this policy.

And in an instant it has made me determined NEVER to vote for this conservative government.

It is in so many ways WRONG, WRONG.

When my parents died, my siblings and I were fortunate to receive money. But we were more fortunate that our parents were cared for and supported in their old age and final weeks of ill-health / hospital treatment.

When I die, my dc will be fortunate enough to receive money. But they are more fortunate that they have already received a good education, and that we all have police, fire, ambulance services, drug addiction clinics, dementia services, council housing (even if only a little), national security and defense. And that is worth much, much more than a few thousand extra of money from my parents' estate.

My Parents aren't rich. Df aged 68 still goes to work digging footings and rendering walls in the pissing rain 6 days a week, however the 4 bed bungalow that they have lived in since they bought it for 120,00 in 2001 has recently been valued at 800k.

Df is a builder, he has done a lot of work on it, and it is now lovely, but the upkeep on it alone is enough to keep them both working.

Some of the posters on this thread have no idea what house prices are like in the SE. My parents house is in Essex, 3 miles from a train station, in a not very nice part of Thurrock.

A 4 bed detatched house in Bromley, which is Kent, not even London, will cost you the best part of a million quid Here

Plenty of people live in 4 bed detached houses, this doesn't make them immensely wealthy. Comfortable perhaps, but certainly not 'rich', at least not in the SE.

I certainly do know what house prices are like, since I live in central London!

Also these people who you are saying are not wealthy will be dead.

Keith I have every idea how much houses cost in the south east.

Your parents could sell their house and move to a cheaper area and buy a similar house for a lot less and have a substantial amount leftover.

Just because their assets are currently in their property rather than money, does not make them any less rich.

Someone who already lives in that similar cheaper area does not have that opportunity as they have not benefited from such a disproportionate increase in property prices since they bought their first home.

Ordinary families today have no hope of gaining the advantage that your parents have had as it is unlikely that we will see such massive increases in property prices in the future.

Keith Your parents are asset rich. Nobody is proposing that your Dad should come home from work to find a tax bill on his doormat, but that tax should be applied to his, frankly enormous, estate after death.
Only 2.7% of estates are liable for inheritance tax. If your parents are amongst them then they are 'rich' whether they feel it or not. Whoever inherits their estate will be 'rich' too.

I bought my current house in 2003 for more than your parents paid in 2001. It has gone up in value by about £30K and your parents has gone up by £680K. That doesn't make me less 'hardworking' than your parents, but it does mean that when if both me and your parents died today and left our estates to our dcs, you would be a hell of a lot richer than my dcs.

optimisticwriter - I'm with you. I would also be one of the beneficiaries of this policy, for similar reasons, but I also see it as another nail in the coffin of my Tory vote.

I don't want to inherit my parent's family home. I want them to live comfortable lives and die happily - I'm happy that there's money tied up in their house that we could spend on the best care for them if it were needed.

I don't want to pass my home down to my children. By the time I'm gone I want to see them happily established in their own family homes, with solid careers generating them a secure income of their own. I've achieved this for myself with very little financial input from my own family (although plenty of practical and emotional support) and I want my children to be able to do the same.

Which is why, if I ever did find myself the beneficiary of an estate on which IHT were payable, I would gladly pay all the taxes, so that they can fund the schools, universities and hospitals that have helped me, and help my family - and all the other families that aren't as well off as ours.

Treats - yes to all you have said.

I willingly pay tax to live in a social and democratic country which attempts to pay for health and social care, and I willingly pay tax on any 'windfall' which comes my way.

I hope and pray that when I am in old age there will still be a social system for this, that my neighbour and I will be equally cared for (irrespective of our means).

Treats - yes to all you have said.

I willingly pay tax to live in a social and democratic country which attempts to pay for health and social care, and I willingly pay tax on any 'windfall' which comes my way.

I hope and pray that when I am in old age there will still be a social system for this, that my neighbour and I will be equally cared for (irrespective of our means).

Gently I think you are forgetting about inflation and inflated house prices.

We bought our home 20 years ago for around £160K- it's now worth around £650K.

This is very common in the south of England.

Meanwhile we have paid tax on earnings and skrimped and saved to buy the house - whereas others may have lived in social/ subsidised housing and spent their money on cruises and cars every year.

Why should our children have to give 40% back to the government just because we managed our money well?

Blackrider are you forgetting that an estate includes not only a modest 4-bed home in the SE but perhaps also life insurance and pensions?

I happily pay my taxes which are high to support society (NHS, schools, transport etc). I do not support inheritance tax. I pay vast sums of tax already. We are lucky and have a wonderful home which the children adore. They will be forced to sell it to pay inheritance tax. That to me is incredibly unfair. Due to rocketing house prices they will most likely never be able to afford anything similar. Our family home will be lost because my husband and I die. How is that fair or right?

They will be forced to sell it to pay inheritance tax.

Because they are all planning to live there together with their partners and children?

I would hope so. In many cultures it is absolutely normal to live several generations together.