Inheritance Tax
George Osborne said yesterday that he’d like to get rid of Inheritance Tax, except for millionaires. I think he should go a lot further and I have have not changed these views much since I had a letter published in the Financial Times about it some years ago.
I’ve been against the tax for years, not because I would benefit from its abolition or because I’m getting to that age, when I should start to do something about it. But because as a control engineer by training, I just think it does untold secondary damage.
Consider :-
- How many bright minds are employed on both sides of the Inheritance Tax War in avoiding and collecting the tax? Abolish and they’d have to do a proper wealth creating job.
- It is generally believed that the super-rich even if they are domiciled in the UK, pay little Inheritance Tax. I’d love to see a graph of the size of sums paid. I suspect that there are few in the millions and most are in tens and hundreds of thousands.
- The tax raises about half the amount Air Passenger Duty does! With the rise in this tax though, I suspect that recent figures will show this to be incorrect.
- According to a survey by the BBC, many people would prefer to replace it with say 2p on Income Tax. I’ve got an e-mail from a former Tory Treasury Minister who believes the same.
- How many large houses in a bad state that are inhabited by an elderly couple or a single pensioner are not developed because they’d prefer to leave their children a wreck, so the children could make the profit?
- Perhaps some of those put out of work by the abolishing of the tax, could work out sensible development schemes that would create the houses we need and give the owners a good standard of living.
- If we abolished the tax, how many rich Italians, French, Germans and other citizens of the EU would come to the UK to enjoy the remainder of their lives. I’ve been here over 60 years and it’s a great country, if you ignore the Iraq War, identity cards, stupid planning regulations, Government human rights abuses, certain football clubs and a few other things.
- Hopefully these retirees would create a few jobs. All my rich elderly friends are still at it creating new businesses. Why shouldn’t they do it here?
- How many inventors and entrepreneurs would come, knowing that they could leave everything to their descendents?
So it’s a very wrong tax that is well past its sell-by date.
I’d pay the two pence extra on Income Tax to avoid paying it to money-grabbing accountants. Come to think of it I’d pay three pence!
Is that an offer that the Chancellor can’t refuse?
Fraudulent Tax Refunds
I’m getting a couple of these e-mails every day now.
Tax Refund Spam E-Mail
My ISP marks them as spam. But they are.
Note that it is not specifically addressed to me in any way and that there is no mention of my name or tax number.
Don’t ever login. This one was hosted in Korea.
Dignitas and the Care Tax
Two stories from yesterday, should be linked together.
We had the tragic tale of Sir Edward and Joan Downes going to Dignitas to commit suicide together, because of her terminal cancer.
We also had the government outlining proposals that when you retire, you’d have to pay £20,000 for compulsory insurance for your long term care.
I should say that I’ve helped care for someone in the last few weeks of their life and when the pain gets too bad to endure, all sorts of thoughts arise. But for me, as there is nothing afterwards, I would never countenance any premature end for myself. But others should be free to choose.
So if Aunt Sally or Uncle Fred have to retire early because of some long term illness, would the family push them off to Switzerland because they don’t want to pay the £20,000?
The Care Tax is insane!
Something needs to be done and people need to be encouraged to provide for their long term care, but anything compulsory needs to be consigned to the bin.
The Anonymous Widower 