Is it too early to chat about billionaires hoarding land and avoiding paying inheritance tax?

[feellikeahugefailure]

I know it involves a death and that's very sad for the family, but irrespective of that I do think inherited unearned assets is huge reason for inequality. The UK ranks badly for equality.

And I am not naive enough to believe that any level of increase in taxation would lead to a level of provision which would be satisfactory for ds and people like him. That would involve a wholesale cultural change which placed people with asd much higher up the scale of priorities than they are now. That is not going to happen. In the absence of this left wing utopia I and those like me should be free to make the best provision we can

Good grief Karlos! Stop being so bloody realistic

Left wing utopia.

Or... Belgium.

There are actual real countries very near us that don't think it's totally fine for the autistic children of the poor to be totally fucked when their parents die.

Calling that a "utopia" is a bit silly.

Belgium ... You serious? That would be the Belgium where they still believe it's all my fault?

Why don't you go on the sn board and tell all the ignoramuses on there tearing their hair out that paradise exists just over the channel?
Or maybe confine yourself to issues you actually know something about ....

Dapple I was asked to comment about my ideal world, i did so and then I commented about the world as it is. Because, as I have said in other posts, i am perfectly capable of understanding what is not realistic until I am supreme ruler of the universe. I don't know what motivates people in business really, but i do know that there are many intelligent motivated people doing socially valuable work for considerably less than millions.

Karlos I'm sorry that you can't be confident that your son will be looked after in the future. I think it's unfair that you have that responsibility and I think it should be a collective responsibility to look after the vulnerable. I appreciate that my left wing utopia is not reality, and we all do the best we can in system that exists.

I'm getting bored of answering questions and getting no answers. What should be done about the flats? Is the current model re inheritance the best we can do?

But trusts do pay tax, just not on the death of one of the beneficiaries.

I don't think it is unfair at all. I am quite capable of providing for him, and have paid and will pay large sums in tax during my lifetime which could and should (but won't) be deployed to look after other children in his position whose parents do not have my means. What I do object to is a further helping in tax being taken from income and assets I have already been taxed on after my death. To do this to a person like my ds on the death of his parent is morally wrong and I will do my utmost to prevent it by all lawful means.

Celtic - I've answered your question about inheritance and I said I have no problem with people owning large amounts of land.
Re. the unoccupied flats - well I know I'm not the only person who objects to it. Maybe Sadiq Khan will do something about it but I doubt it. Those in power are frightened of losing foreign investment.

It would be the Belgium where autistic adults are not treated as dependants of their parents.

The Belgium that provides the best care my austistic relative received in all the countries he has lived in.

The place where the care received was available regardless of the income of the parents.

Don't tell me what I know about.

You think a system where you can protect your child but other children with different parents are left utterly fucked is fair.

You are not just making the best choices you can in a shit system.

You are an active supporter of vulnerable people being fucked over as long as you and yours are AOK.

The system here is not remote fair.

It's shit.

It is actively vindictive towards the poor, the weak, the disabled, the sick.

It treats the wealthy as more valuable than the poor.

But this thread is just one of many indications that that is a common opinion in Britain.

The weak are to be despised. The strong to be worshipped.

I'm afraid Belgium is not by any means the paradise you describe for people with autism. But even if it were, I do not live there, nor am I able to. I live in the UK. I suppose I could devote all my energy and my resources to trying to revolutionise British attitudes to people with disabilities. or, I could try and ensure my child is as well provided for as I possibly can after my death. I think I can w ork out for myself which course of action is likely to be more productive, and I'm afraid it will take more than pious leftie ranting to persuade me that my choice s either irrational or unethical.

It's always the have nots that seem to have an issue with this sort of thing.

But of course if David Cameron or Boris Johnson were to say such a thing, people on here would be furious...

Does the age of the dead person's children matter? If it is ok to spend money on them growing up, should less IHT be paid if you leave young children?

Does anyone actually believe that forcing the new Duke to pay inheritance tax would benefit the country?

Just that in terms of fiscal spending, he'd have to sell off around £4 bn of property. So it would be 4% of the NHS budget, for one year.

Who would be able to buy the properties in Mayfair and Belgravia? Would the companies that did so pay tax here like Grosvenor Estates do?

IHT is fine where it is, the threshold shouldn't be raised, but its also not designed for cases like this.

You can do what you need to do to protect your child without claiming that a system that woukd leave him fucked if yiu were not able to protect him is a fair system.

I know Belgium is not a paradise. Ot is you who has insisted that autistic people are treated like shit everywhere by necessity and any suggestion things could be, or are, better than in the UK is utopianism

Yes, I think the country woukd be better off if we did away with feudalism.

Which is what it is to allow aristocratic families to hold and pass on massive land portfolios without oaying inheritance tax

Doinitfine - do you think just large landowners should pay more inheritance tax?
What about very rich people who don't own much or any land? Is it ok for them to arrange their affairs so they pay less inheritance tax as they are not 'feudal'?

Lets be honest, if HMRC demanded a payment from the Grosvenor estate it would result in the sale of quite a lot of property in the UK, primarily the property that is the highest value. Which in turn would lead to it being bought by all many investors, but the majority of which would be off shore firms. Who wouldn't pay any taxes on it.

The estate currently pays on average between £50 -£75m in corporation tax, and it won't escape IHT, it will pay in 10 yearly intervals in order to make it easier to plan for.

So when we add it all up, keeping the estate, which stays in UK hands, pays corporation tax, and will pay significant amounts of IHT across time, is better than breaking it up.