I consider myself left of a lot of people, but I don't think the wealthy don't pay tax. I don't think the super rich pay enough tax, and I don't care at all if they pay more inheritance tax. Actually thats not true, I hope they do pay more inheritance tax starting on Wednesday.
I dont have bundles of money and do not expect to be impacted by any change to inheritance tax. But, on principle, i cannot understand why any government thinks it is even remotely acceptable to take money just because someone dies. The whole idea is shocking. In fact i believe it is legalised robbery.
How so? It’s unearned income for the recipient. The problem with inheritance that pays no tax is that it screws the whole concept of working for a living out of kilter. Those will relatively small Estates pay no tax.
Unearned income for the recipient yes, but for which all costs and taxes have previously been paid by the benefactor. Even without a revision in the upcoming budget, the £325k current allowance doesn’t cover the average house price in several areas of the UK, let alone any savings, pension pot, whatever. When people getting towards a certain age count up what you have, I think a lot of people will start to realise this has increasingly serious implications on what legacy of your hard working life you can leave to the ones you love.
As I said if benefactors can inherit with no tax liability it would seriously mess with the concept of working for a living. Plenty of average houses in the South of the UK which are likely to be worth in excess of £1 million and the beneficiary would have earned none of it. You can take the argument that everything earned in life has had tax paid in it at some point. Taxation works on the idea of taxing added benefit. To the beneficiaries it’s 100% added benefit. The western world’ economies are already creaking under extreme debt. You can be pretty certain there will be another financial crisis in the not too distant future.
But if you have the cash to do so, you can choose your care home. There is a big difference between the better care homes and those run by the Council.
Please demonstrate how this is true. Scenario: If person A inherits £500k on which no inheritance tax has been taken they have £500k to do what they want with. If Person B inherits £500k on which inheritance tax has been taken they have £500k to do what they want with. Which of these 2 people has more or less incentive to work
If it’s property most Estates of £1 million from a married couple pay no inheritance tax. If it’s not property then it’s £650k inherited before tax in the same example. Any changes this week are likely to hit the bigger Estates not the smaller ones. Inheritance should be seen as a bonus and not a right. If you have many people suddenly inheriting million pound fortunes then many would choose not to work anymore. I certainly would.
Why should my kids pay tax again on the money I earned and payed tax on to pay for the house or other assets that they inherit. It's robbery by any other description. Lady Nasher and I plan to Die with not a penny to our names, our kids having benefitted from it legally beforehand. Some of it years ago already.
How does this make any logical sense once you take onboard the scenario i described in the post right before yours?
I was talking about the real tax burden – all tax and not just income tax and national insurance. Whilst it is unearned income for the recipient it is money upon which tax has already been paid. If you give your child money and you live for a certain number of years, then they don’t pay any tax on it. If you die, then they do pay tax on it. The unearned income argument only applies in one scenario.
Wow, that's proper brainwashed by the party stuff, I pity you. And why is that a problem? Perhaps some of the skiving bastards that are able to work yet choose to live of my taxes could do their work instead.
by which you mean that the person who has earned money and paid tax on it does not have the right to leave it to their children without it being taxed again… I find that an odd view to take.
I can’t quite imagine “how many people suddenly inheriting…” would happen, or how that would “seriously mess with the concept of working for a living” but even if it did, is there a problem with one more person buying big and paying lots of vat, or if selling up paying CGT, and one more job available to someone who needs it paying vat and income tax?
If you are paying £2K less in taxes giving a nett £1000+ more in your pocket, as other taxation such as VAT is the same, then you are broadly the same/ better off/ worse off depending largely on your the council tax increase? The only other huge tax increase has been on cigarettes and if you are still smoking them you need to have a word with yourself!
People who bought a house from the council in London for £30K in the 80s are fortunate that it it now worth a million plus.
A certain wife of an ex-prime minister who rather good at legal stuff is also good at optimising their property portfolio via off shore businesses and trusts. Same as a duke with a Westminster portfolio, amongst other regions. Tax is for poor people, they'll never change that. Way way way off topic, fun though.
