Jeremy Corbyn wants to impose lifetime gift limits on children of £125,000

[ForTheLoveOfDoughnuts]

So we pay tax on what we earn. What we buy. And now this.. what's the point of working hard to help out our kids, for this to even be considered. Or AIBU?

I don't think it's right that I have never requested to be maintained by the state but would be penalised because my parents have made sure I'm ok and will have somewhere to live for the rest of my life and enough income to cover the care and additional help I need.

Having to pay a small amount of tax on very large sums isn’t being penalised, it’s living in a society that functions. There are very physically disabled people whose parents couldn’t make sure their kids are okay, who I guarantee will be worse off relying on the state.

People are acting as though this tax would prevent parents providing for their children, when of course it would not.

The fact that is also not policy means there’s no information on how it would be applied and, critically, any exemptions for things like disability.

I'm not happy with this. I don't think it's right that I have never requested to be maintained by the state but would be penalised because my parents have made sure I'm ok and will have somewhere to live for the rest of my life and enough income to cover the care and additional help I need.

I made this point, but apparently my children should think themselves lucky they get anything at all, happily hand over my money earned for their benefit, and content themselves in the knowledge that others are benefitting from what’s rightfully theirs.

"Others are benefitting from what's rightly theirs".

You mean like you benefited from state housing and state education whilst others paid taxes?

They aren't being asked to hand it all over, but to pay a small amount of tax above a large threshold. Calculated as an average rate of tax, someone gifted £250,000 in their lifetime would pay 10% in tax.

I enjoy the life i have worked hard for, and earned

Are you secretly aware that your status isn't actually down to you? Did you benefit from large amounts of cash from parents and owe your positions to unearned privilege?

You mean like you benefited from state housing and state education whilst others paid taxes?

I’ve never benefited from either of those things!

I do, which is why I don't regard taxation as theft.

Making out that its all down to your own hard work however is incorrect, society provided you the opportunities to gain it

So not the 6 jobs I held down in my 20s.

I am trying to think of the opportunities society gave me rather than what opportunities I carved out for myself.

I am from an immigrant family (whole other thread on its own) who lived with 8 adults (who hated each other) and 2 children in a 2 bed 1 box room no bathroom no heating and outside toilet council house on a slum estate (it was definitely a slum estate as it was part of a slum clearance programme)
My father was off never to be seen again when I was young and I had a mother who was determined we should make a suicide pact or would try and feed me crushed up sleeping tablets and was so mentally unstable she would be carted off to spend some time in a padded cell so I was in and out of the care system.

So yes you can get somewhere on your own through your own hard work

Oh and it isn't that my status isn't down to me, but not solely down to me, but as I've said all along, society has facilitated my earning power, its allowed me to accumulate wealth and protected my property rights.

Which is why I don't regard taxation as theft.

"So yes you can get somewhere on your own through your own hard work"

So you didn't get a state education?

Never claimed any benefits?

Wasn't given opportunities by living in the UK?

I’m aware this wasn’t addressed to me, but:

So you didn't get a state education?

Nope.

Never claimed any benefits?

Nope.

Wasn't given opportunities by living in the UK?

Nope. I’m looking forward to leaving it.

Which is why I don't regard taxation as theft

I don’t object to a certain amount of taxation, as I said. I do see the need for it, but it should be as minimal as possible. We can agree to disagree. Life would be very boring if we all thought and felt the same.

You weren't given any opportunites by living in the UK, yet your husband is a policeman employed by the state?

So he won't have a nice pension that received significant high contributions paid for out of tax payer funds?

You weren't given any opportunities by the country that you live in? So the social and economic system operated by the UK hasn't benefited you at all?

The problem with you, and those like you, is you don't understand the fact that society has to function in order for you to achieve what you have.

Self attribution bias all round.

@Oliversmumsarmy

You must be an incredibly strong person to have survived that. What a testament to you that you managed it!

The problem with you, and those like you, is you don't understand the fact that society has to function in order for you to achieve what you have

The problem with you, and those like you, is you don’t understand the fact that individuals have to be free to function in order to achieve anything to contribute to society.

Awesome - we are now up to three people who came from dire financial circumstances to become extremely wealthy, and who’ve never once benefitted from a single government-funded service (never driven on a road, seen a GP, been to a state school, been to A&E, received a university grant, received subsidised prescriptions, used a train, used a landline, etc etc).

It’s a miracle - somebody call Guinness!

The problem with you, and those like you, is you don’t understand the fact that individuals have to be free to function in order to achieve anything to contribute to society.

I think you’re pretty free to function if you’ve managed to work your way up from nothing to extreme wealth, don’t you?

It’s also interesting how very concerned some are about the financial safety of disabled people, provided they’re independently wealthy ones.

" is you don’t understand the fact that individuals have to be free to function in order to achieve anything to contribute to society."

You are free, don't exaggerate.

However, the freedom is granted to you by a functioning society, not your own individual efforts alone.

However, the freedom is granted to you by a functioning society, not your own individual efforts alone

No, freedom is a fundamental right. It doesn’t need granting. What is this ‘functioning society’ if not the individuals that compose it?

It’s also interesting how very concerned some are about the financial safety of disabled people, provided they’re independently wealthy ones

Stop the press! Parents care about their children!

Oooh virtue signalling much?

I'm not engaging with that particular line of argument. For one its whatabouterry, rather than addressing the issue at hand, secondly your bringing it up is an attempt to discredit the argument I'm making by attacking me.

I'm sure I don't need to point out that these are both, Tu quoque and ad hominem fallacies.

," had I gone to the kind of sink comp so beloved of the left I would no doubt be earning MW "

Ah yes the left, who advocate increasing spending on all schools, as the research shows that it brings the best results, see the success of the London challenge for further reference.

"I prefer a system in which there is a chance for bright, poor children to excel. "

Again, see the London Challenge (a Labour party policy) and the outcomes for poor children for further reference.

"No, freedom is a fundamental right. It doesn’t need granting. What is this ‘functioning society’ if not the individuals that compose it?"

A fundamental right? Hmm, what do we rely on to protect our fundamental rights.

A functioning society does rely on the individuals that compose it, but it requires collective effort to function, taxation is part of that collective effort.

If people do charitable work or give to charity (& many of us do), it's a private matter: never let your right hand know what your left is doing.

We all pay enough tax already. When I was at work sometimes I was aghast at the amount of tax I paid though I was happy to pay some. Now retired, I still pay tax.

When husband and I are gone we want our offspring to benefit and be well cushioned because no one can foresee what lies ahead. Inheritance tax is exorbitant as it is at the moment and we will do everything we can to ensure that it is kept to the minimum when we pop our clogs.