To want to scream when people talk about inheritance tax taxing income twice?

[Runmoreorless]

You see it here and elsewhere often, people complaining that (usually) the parent has paid tax on their income why should it be taxed again when they die?

BUT the vast majority of what people leave, over the IHT threshold comes from capital gains, usually on property, which has never been taxed.

There may be other arguments against IHT but this one makes no sense.

of course it's taxed twice. You buy property with your own money which has been taxed in the first place..

Some profligate left wing types spend every penny they have, and then scrounge more from the rest of us.

Some thrifty right wing types are more careful and save their pennies for the future, and then get screwed royally for having done so.

And that's the problem! Glad I was able to help :)

Australia has a perfectly sensible system. There is no inheritance tax. When someone dies and their assets are transferred, capital gains tax is applied in the same way that it would if that person was still alive. The state still receives a tax benefit, but there is no need to guess how long you are going to live and try to plan for it. All the stress is removed.

I think it's a really unfair tax. It doesn't take into account the age or number of beneficiaries. So very young children losing their parents may end up also losing 40% of any estate whereas adult children who are no longer dependent may end up with no tax to pay.

No tax takes into account the circumstances of people paying it. You don’t pay less income tax if you’ve got six kids than someone with none. It’s as fair as it can possibly be.

There's a lot of ways to minimise inheritance tax, all of which dFIL is exploring and doing. Good for him, he doesn't owe shit to anyone!

No-one loses 40% of any estate. There is a very substantial nil rate band.

What I would find interesting is whether if they just lowered the rate of IHT to say 5-10% whether they'd actually raise more as people wouldn't bother to avoid it.

One of the many reasons it is seen as unfair is because 40% is just so high when you think capital gains tax is 10%.