To think scrapping inheritance tax would not be popular with voters

[Lanadelday]

I'd say I can't believe the conservatives are considering it, but nothing surprises me any more that they do. But AIBU to think most people wouldn't back this anyway- I can't see it being a big vote winner and don't think they really get that voters are sick of all the inequality and so many people including kids and elderly, living in poverty, not wanting to make it worse.

I was responding to your rather sententious pronouncement that whatever I will have to leave should of course be enough. In the nicest possible way, you know nothing of my affairs, and it really isn’t your business to judge

We are all selfish

Wanting to pass it to your children however is narrow minded

By passing it all to your children you are helping to create a worse society for them

You are giving with one hand and taking away with the other

You are penalising their future friends and relations

You know nothing of what other contributions I make to other people, whether through tax or other means, so you have no grounds at all to make that accusation.
castigating the normal parental desire to do the best for a child and leave them secure as “selfish” is perverse.

Be careful what you wish for.

Scrapping IHT will mean the £7bn is raised from elsewhere and at least IHT is relatively modest. A £2m estate will still leave £1.6m after tax.

Nobody needs to hang on to millions. They can give it away to family and live 7 years and there is zero tax to pay on the gift.

I think more people will want this than one might think.

Read the threads on mortgages and people working two jobs to pay off mortgages and how everyone wants to own their own homes. Look at what the chances are of your kids ever getting a council house - they will NEVER be at the top of the list. Look at the way the rental market is being destroyed.

Think about all the 60 - 80 year olds with a no future earning power and everything they have in their home. And their 30 - 50 year old offspring, squeezed and stretched who finally stand to get a helping hand when they inherit. And those 40 year olds with kids who they see struggling and struggling but for whom granny's money would make a difference. It isn't just rich old Tories that this hits.

The tax take is NOT spent on doctors and teachers - it really isn't. So if X loses out on her chance to finally get a deposit for a house after having cared for free for her Mum/Grandad/Aunt for eight / nine years - do you think that money will go to a deserving nurse/teacher or for a council house for a working young couple currently living with Mum and Dad? Of course not.

A main driver of economies, society and work is to do it for our kids, to make it better for them. IHT basically says "fuck you" to that.

I think the Tories will find it is a HUGE vote winner. It is a very personal, very obvious tax - not something you don't see like VAT or NatIns - but a bill for £££££££ just after you've lost someone you love. And sometimes it means you have to lose your home too.

I could be wrong but I think this will be more popular than it might first seem. Time will tell.

I didn't say it would be "enough", I said that he would be pretty well provided for, if you leave behind enough to be liable for inheritance tax. Far better provided for than the vast majority of disabled people in this country - that is just a fact.

So yes, I think the government has a duty to redistribute some of that inheritance to those who need it more.

It’s fine.

You are talking about your ds as your priority, others are talking about the ease of inheriting a large amount from parents.

Different perspectives. You’ve put the hard work in for a start. Inheriting doesn’t require work.

https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax

I agree. I vote selfishly. This is why I would never vote Tory. I want a country with excellent public services available to me , warm, secure homes that my children can afford and clean air and waters.

again, you know nothing of my affairs, so it isn’t for you to judge what “well provided for” is in relation to my DS.
you really are quite the busybody

@guzzleandstuff The tax take is NOT spent on doctors and teachers - it really isn't.

That is a crazy statement. Of course it is. You will be telling us the world is flat next.

Of course I don't know, and I don't really care. It isn't relevant.

I am basing my opinions on the thoughts that you have expressed here on this thread. I think your approach is selfish. You don't have to accept that if you don't agree, but I stand by my point of view.

The vote says a lot more about the MN demographic than the national opinion.

I can’t think of any fairer tax than taking money from dead people (and my estate is worth far more than 1mio, so ‘I’ would be affected).

Where do we want this country to go? The Gini coefficient (an economic measure of wealth inequality) is one of the highest of the developed nations.

We are in a position where most state educated pupils are scraping by on £4.5-5.5k per child per annum, whereas London private school charge about £8k per TERM. The consequences are that STEM subjects are most often taught by teachers unqualified in the subject.

We are also in a position where most people now don’t have proper access to health care and fear getting sick, let alone ‘luxuries’ like dental care. Our life expectancy as a nation is declining and will continue to decline until we inject a lot more money (yes, it is also tu extraordinarily badly and needs dismantling, but it still also needs money).

Abolishing inheritance tax would aid in the creation of dynasties, which we are already getting through other forms of nepotism.

if you are rich, use private health and education, you may not care about the above, but ultimately it will affect you, via rising crime and no go areas, as well as beggars in the streets etc. If we want to be like Colombia or South Africa, with vast wealth disparity, we are going the right way about it.

My DS may very well not be able to work, at least not very remuneratively. I don’t think it would be morally wrong in anyway for him to inherit money from me.

And I find your opinions ignorant and impertinent.

It's a tax that only a very small percentage will ever be affected by. However, the Tories have managed to fool the masses into thinking the tax man will be banging on the door before the funeral to root through your dead relatives pockets for every last pound.

@AgathaSpencerGregson ,

The current inheritance tax rate is 40% tops. It is not 0 or 100% choice.

And you are more than welcome to give your money away in your lifetime to reduce inheritance tax.

What every person in this country rich or poor should be asking is why for the last 13 years have their annual taxes increased but public services reduced.

Conservative economic incompetence is at the root of it all. A smash and grab raid by abolishing IHT before the General Election is a final kick in the teeth to average earners. It may benefit Alan Sugar by £200m but it will not help pay down national debt equal to £90,000 per household.

Oh, and even at the high rate its set, I WILL have to pay IT.

I can understand your feelings. Don’t worry it’s not strange.

It’s fair easier to judge if you expect large amounts in inheritance as some posters have talked about.

I know what the IHT threshold is, so I am making assumptions on that basis.

Of course I don't know what your ds's specific needs are and I am not passing any comment on those, but I do know that the vast majority of disabled people in this country do not have access to the kind of wealth that we're talking about if IHT is a factor. So comparatively, yes, he will be better provided for than many in similar situations.

Maybe you would like him to have more. I get that. But he will already have so much more than others in similar situations. When is enough enough?

And that's fine. I don't really mind what you think about me.

@guzzleandstuff ,

Your argument about motivation has been used about every single tax.

People are perfectly motivated to work to give 60% to their children.

Like all taxes, there is a sweet spot. If you raised IHT to 80%, I don’t doubt it would demotivate but, like income tax, despite those threatening to move abroad, turned out that most were happy to work at a 50% top rate (I know a few moved, but the percentage was tiny).

Right back at you, matey

Why do you think scrapping IHT so people like benefit even more because I do acknowledge my privilege will make things easier for your child?

I don't think Inheritance tax needs to be scrapped, although many people do avoid it through perfectly legal tax planning. Maybe they should tighten up some of the rules around it or make Captial Gains tax via property the same rate as Inheritance tax to stop people gifting it to their children before death.

Just wanted to point out that lots of people on these threads always talk about how both spouses will have an allowance, but we have a lot of divorces/separations these days which means that many of the "children" inhertiting a £1M property (for example) will only get one £325K exemption. It's not necessarily the case that both divorced parents are wealthy enough to trigger IHT.