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.

There is always the option of additional voluntary payments to HMRC. If the Pharisees of mumsnet put their money where their mouths are, they’d be at a much higher level than they are.

This group of multi millionaires doesn’t agree with you.

When I quote the headline to him (Guy Singh-wWatson), he is quick to suggest a qualification. “I’d prefer to be known as the millionaire who wants all millionaires to pay more tax,” he says. “I don’t want it to be an act of charity, but an obligation, as all tax should be.”

He is one of a group of around 40 wealthy figures who have given a public endorsement to the tax proposals being put forward by a group called Patriotic Millionaires UK (PMUK). Other members include: Ian Gregg, of the eponymous bakery chain; James Perry, founder of Cook, the frozen food company; and Dale Vince, of green energy firm Ecotricity.

https://patrioticmillionaires.uk/

Easy to type, harder to do.

We listen to multi millionaires (saying very convenient things) now? That’s quite a development 😂

We listen to multi millionaires (saying very convenient things) now? That’s quite a development

More given as evidence that not everyone thinks the same way, and to counter the idea that you can only be in favour of IHT (or similar) if you’re jealous of the wealthy

Inconvenient for you I think. It just goes to show that wealth doesn’t have to be accompanied by a side dish of greed. Julian Richer, founder of Richer Sounds, is currently on the radio, he’s saying exactly the same thing.

i didn’t say it did; my point was a different one, which is that desiring to pass on wealth to your children should not be characterised as selfish.
Those who think it is have the option to put their money where their mouths are; strangely, not many do.

What other choice do we have.

That's not how it works - it's not each, the limits are the total regardless of how many children or beneficiaries receive the benefits!

Our dear King didn't pay any tax on his inheritance of £15.2 BILLION. If he had paid iht on this it would have been £6billion - not far off the annual amount raised from the entire country. I don't disagree that £1million seems to be a generous threshold, but if you think we are going to raise a significant amount from taxing people with estates of £1m you are bonkers. The vast majority of high value estates avoid iht - if these were taxed it would raise significantly more than taxing middle class families

Now seen your further post. That would be fine if the estate was cash, but the problem is that my children would like to keep their home as they would prefer to continue to live here and one of them needs support. The IHT would force them to sell it.

For those that would like to scrap or reduce inheritance tax, what tax do you believe it should be replaced with?

If you don’t want it replaced, what spending should be cut L

House prices are a massive problem in this country. They are an unproductive store of wealth, and the whole idea of the ‘housing ladder’ needs to be broken for the uk to become more productive.

This means more houses being built and housing should be taxed more. At the moment IHT is the only time that houses are properly taxed, and if that puts downward pressure on the housing market due to houses being sold to pay it, that is a good think.

Answered this earlier, but personally I would suggest looking at what works in other countries, and whether any of those things could be adopted here. In regards to inheritance tax, the UK has one of the lowest thresholds, and takes a higher percentage, than other countries in Europe. Emerging economies, in contrast, either don’t have inheritance tax, and if they do then it’s minimal, because it’s considered to disincentivize growth.

So I would look at competitive tax rates designed to attract investment and growth. It is not always the case that higher taxes yield more revenue, in fact they can chase wealth away. Why would you remain in place where you’ll be taxed highly, when you can go to a country actively courting you? Indeed, there is a net outflow of wealth from the UK, so that is exactly what is happening. So that leaves those with less to shoulder the burden, which isn’t sustainable.

Answered this earlier, but personally I would suggest looking at what works in other countries, and whether any of those things could be adopted here.

One thing I have learned in my decades in England, is that the quickest and most efficient way to kill any initiative is to suggest or show it works in another country. England invented the "not invented here" trope.

Yes to this. Look at R o I

People need to vote away from envy politics though, eg tax the corporations until they leave

It doesn’t help

Having looked at Ireland’s form of inheritance tax it seems most estates pay significantly more than in the UK. There’s no seven year exemption either so no possibility of giving significant sums away to mitigate it. If a similar system were mooted here there would be outcry from people who object to our system.

I saw this and thought of this thread

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12325449/Now-Treasury-plans-tax-raid-inherited-pension-pots-ability-inherit-tax-free-scrapped-ministers.html

This is not about Inheritance Tax though.

It is written that way to blame Inheritance Tax for the UK's problems. You will see more of this 'side of a bus' inaccuracy over the next 18 months. It is a diversion from the real issues.

This is about making pension fund income liable to income tax when it is drawn down. The Government will have given basic and higher rates of income tax relief to the pension holder through their lifetime. What these changes do is make sure that when a person dies under 75 and passes their pension on to a survivor they now pay income tax on what they draw at their marginal rate.

It would be a bit perverse to allow high earners to contribute £40,000 a year and now £60,000 a year and give them tax relief at up to £27,000 a year without income tax applying when that pension is in payment.

It is correcting a loophole. The government has already widened the tax advantages of private pensions by ditching the Lifetime Allowance allowing pensions pots to accrue tax free above £1.1m.

You know that the Tory party are desperate when they are wheel out what they 'could' do with inheritance tax. Any of the core voters who were wavering will vote Tory in the hope that something could or might happen and as before nothing will