Hugh Grosvenor got a whopping £4 BILLION tax break from the British taxpayer when he became Duke of Westminster - what for?

[TallerSally]

Yeah.

£4bn that could have been invested into public services in the UK. £4bn that hard-working tax-payers are having to make up for.

The usual feeble protests about this inheritance tax (IHT) break being the law or tradition just won't cut it - laws and traditions that aren't in the public general interest and just exist to uphold the privileges of a small (and in this case unarguably underserving) minority can and should be changed.

Because, what exactly has Hugh £10bn fortune Grosvenor done for the British public to deserve a £4bn IHT break?

And so pathetic to see the media skirt around the issue, as they fawn over his wedding today and try to faff about irrelevant peripheral pseudo-dramas instead.

£4bn, folks!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/06/07/duke-of-westminster-olivia-henson-wedding-latest-news/

Well I've read the post several times now and I'd say @BemusedAmerican has nailed it !
So no need for embarrassment or head hanging.

Not read the thread?

What a thoughtless comment?

To be an MP, at least a Tory one, you need to be of means. 25% of Tory MPs are landlords, and 41% were privately educated.

Even though she became an MP, the poster can not single-handedly change this law, we need collective action to make parliament change the law.

Things have moved on a bit from that post

Release the hounds!

Most UK farmers wouldn't mind a £10 billion 'farm'.

Probs not. Although most would probably run at the thought of having to administer and manage that £10bn farm. I bet they also wouldn't want to have to sell their farm because of an inheritance tax bill.

With 40% tax leaving £6billion I'm sure UK farmers would make their own decisions & employ asset management given the option.

'employ asset management given the option.'

Who'd likely tell them to put their £10bn asset in trust to avoid having to sell the farm to pay IHT.

Also to say if the land was not in the Trust the estate would not pay inheritance tax or would farm estates.

I know families who have put everything into Trust by their families in the 1950s onwards and its worked against them tax wise. Larger estates were advised to do this post war.

There are also major disadvantages of using Trusts for everything.

You are commenting half a story here and the planning is legitimate and has been considered fair by previous governments.

Stirring up hatred where none is due

@TallerSally 105 million pounds from him and his family for the National Defense Rehabilitation Center. 10 million pounds in COVID aid. 100,000 pounds for live flowers for Cheshire. Free ice cream for Cheshire on his wedding day out of three small independent ice cream shops. Most done unobtrusively enough that people aren't aware that he has made these donations.

Couldn't resist this although should probably be in the wedding thread:
https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/harry-checks-in-second-most-loved-duke-duchess-ms7rj273m

25% of Tory MPs are landlords, and 41% were privately educated

Doesn't that just mean that 75% of Tory MP aren't landlords and 59% were state educated? - making them the majority.

That would be an amazing plot twist here on “As the Royal Family Forum Turns.”

So it looks bad doesn’t it? ‘MAN WORTH 10 BILLION GIVEN MASSIVE TAX BREAK’. But these things are never as simple as they look.

As PP said, he is land rich. He owns £10 billion of primarily land and property - it’s not all sat in the bank in a lump sum. So to pay £4 billion he would have to sell almost half of it to pay the bill.

And, to who? Currently the land is useful in that it provides food we eat. Our food production is a serious issue so would you prefer it was sold to Oligarchs and Saudi billionaires who want to throw up cheap housing and destroy more greenfield land? Perhaps somebody who just wants to buy it to damage the British public and would have no plans for it at all? Just want to see our food production harmed?

I certainly don’t. Of course I’m envious of his wealth and the life problems that can solve, but objectively I can see it would benefit nobody to slice the estate up and sell it off piecemeal or to somebody with nefarious intentions.

I’m finding a lot of the ‘socialism’ on here to be quite unintelligent.

😂Or Soap! Do you remember Soap from the 1980s with Billy Crystal? They would do a cliffhanger/teaser monologue at the end of all the absurd plot lines. "Will Taller Sally's dastardly, republican plot to overthrow the Royal Family succeed? Will Black Rod intercept her in time before she smothers the PM with a copy of People Magazine? Or will the Aliens from Planet Frootbaat get to her first and take her back to her leader? Tune in next week for... Soap!" <cue credits>.

I’ve just been reading about his charity, they’ve just donated half a million pounds to Chester zoo (that’s just the most recent one, there’s a lot more).

I’m finding a lot of the ‘socialism’ on here to be quite unintelligent

Only 'quite'?

Its isn't even socialism. It's shit stirring.

Well yes I was trying to be polite

It really worries me that this very misplaced baying for blood is what is driving the next election result.

See this is the sort of deflecting, faux-snide response that just reeks of a lack of proper comeback. You sound a bit embarrassed now OP and like you’re trying to brazen it out by avoiding debate

😂

Nah. This is all about him inviting William to his wedding so Harry couldn’t go (boo hoo)