Inheritance Tax

[jazzactivist]

What do you think of the Conservatives' plan to raise the level at which Inheritance Tax needs to be paid? To me it seems that the current situation of paying I.T. on amounts over £300 000 is right, as anyone who gets that type of large amount of income for 'free' should expect to pay tax on it. I know that one argument is that the person who built up the money has already paid tax on income and savings, but nowadays most of that level of inheritance comes from the sale of a property that didn't originally belong to the current owner/s. What abut you?

[eleanor2]

i think they should push it up a bit.to pay tax is it 40% you might inherit the family home.been in the family for generations and have to sell it to afford the tax.ordinary cottages in the country now fetch £300,000.

[Oola]

I think for the most part Inheritance Tax is a shambles. Someone spends all their life paying taxes, only to be taxed essentially for dying and for (rightly so) passing on their fortune - however small or large it is - to someone else. It's not the government's money, it's *their* money that *they've* accrued over the years *despite* paying their taxes. With things like I.Tax and compulsory purchases, it just seems nothing is really your own.

And eleanor's point about the rise in property is a good point too, the Govt. are making a mint out of raising property prices in this way. Sorry to sound such a cynic, but I wonder whether it's partly a reason why they don't seem to be trying to stop these house prices rising. A one bedroom newly built house here (complete with postage stamp gardens and paper thin walls) now costs in excess of £124,500 where I live. To live there you have to be earning in excess of £30,000 a year I think.

[lily]

I have this same discussion with husband, I don't feel much pity for those who inherit several thousands having to pay tax on their "windfall". husband thinks this is totally wrong because it is life savings/work etc. I suppose part of it depends on whether some of the family live in the property, if they would have to move to pay the tax then yes this does seem unjust. A similar scenario can occur when an ederly person has to go into residential care, I came across a case at work where daughter + grandson lived in the house with granny. The council were trying to put a charge on the property to recover the fees incurred by granny in the home. The daughter was fighting this on the grounds that she had contributed much to the property in the way of maintenance etc. A bit of a wander from the original topic, but all part of what happens when we get old/die. I don't get the argument that money taxed under inheritance tax has already been taxed as we could extend that to virtually anything-e.g I buy something with my taxed salary, then the shopkeeper pays tax on that money but I've already paid tax on it...ad infinitum!

[lily]

I see Gordon has jumped on the Inheritance Tax bandwagon, what is proposed only equates to a severance of joint tenancy, so all a bit of a con.

[Oola]

I haven't caught the news today but have seen a couple of allusions to it in various political programmes... what exactly has he 'stolen' (so the paper news headlines have said today) from the Tory policy?

[lily]

Cameron came up with the idea of raising the inheritance tax threshold to 1 million and also abolishing stamp duty for 1st time buyers. result= tories climbed in the opinion polls to within 3 points of Labour. Panic in labour camp, hence new inheritance rules from labour + plans to be announced re helping 1st time buyers.

[Pippa]

New form of gov. for UK then, Cameron thinks up the ideas and Brown implements them!

[Oola]

I just can't see any palpable difference between Tory and New Labour anymore?

[lily]

Love the comment Pippa, and they wonder why people are so disillusioned?

[LJagain]

Labour are now to the right of the Tory Government of the 1980s. And the Tories are an ineffective opposition. Is it time for a new party to finally come forward?

[jazzactivist]

Yes, LJ, what about a Women's Party or RM Party? I think that we could give any political party a run for its money...

The problem is that if both of the main parties appear inseparable and occupy the centre ground then it leaves gaps for more extreme right and left wing parties to gain power as the only alternatives. So they aren't doing themselves or us any favours by not showing and developing their differences.