For inheritance tax

At Conservative Home, Matthew Elliott and James Frayne want to abolish inheritance tax. I'm not convinced.

Inheritance tax...is not simply a tax on the rich (who can and do employ expensive accountants to come up with ways of dodging it)...

This is a case for closing the loopholes, not for abolishing the tax.

...but affects ordinary families...A commitment to getting rid of inheritance tax would show the [Conservative] Party understood the concerns of ordinary middle class families.

It depends what you mean by "ordinary" of course. HMRC figures here and here (pdfs) show that in 2003-04 there were 282,102 estates bequeathed. Only 54,361 - 19.2% - were above the IHT threshold. Are the richest one-fifth really ordinary?

It is immoral because it forces people to pay tax on their possessions, having already paid huge amounts of tax throughout their lives....people understand the obvious immorality of what amounts to "double taxation."

No. IHT is not double taxation. It's paid by the living, not the dead; I know of no case of the taxman delivering a summons to the Pearly Gates. And if I inherit £300,000 or more, I'm paying tax on it for the first time.
If your're worried about double taxation you should fret about VAT. When we buy VATable goods, we are paying VAT out of incomes that have already been taxed. And you should fret about the taxation of interest on savings. Both are more obvious cases of double taxation than IHT.

According to a Populus poll for the BBC in March, people disagreed by 73-25 percent that inheritance tax was a "fair way" for the Government to raise money.

This only shows one of the more pernicious beliefs of the public. They're in love with the idea of getting something for nothing - which is why they play the lottery. What we need, surely, is to end this "summat for nowt" culture, and to encourage work and savings. That means cuts in income tax should take priority.

The abolition of inheritance tax should form part of a wider campaign to reduce the tax burden on families.

This misses the point that there's a trade-off. For a given tax burden - and I wholly agree this should be lower than it is - lower IHT means higher other taxes. And most of these fall upon more ordinary people than does IHT. In this sense, abolishing IHT is regressive, because it would mean higher taxes on other, generally poorer, people.

It is always dangerous to get into the game of "costing" tax cuts because tax cuts have "dynamic effects" - they create a "rising tide" which boosts the economy as a whole.

True. But is this really more true of IHT than other taxes? Would abolishing IHT really lead to more labour supply or capital formation than cuts in other taxes? I suspect the exact opposite. People who can look forward to a big inheritance have less incentive to save or work hard. Dynamic effects argue for cutting income taxes ahead of IHT. Feel free to show me hard empirical evidence to the contrary.
I'll finish with three questions. What's wrong with this argument (pdf) that there's no right of inhertiance at all? Why should you pay more tax if your dad gives you a job than if he gives you an inheritance? Given the choice, wouldn't you rather pay tax after you're dead than whilst you're alive?

Comments

[Penis Enlargement]

I am Very thank full the owner of this blog. Becouse of this blog is very imformative for me.. And I ask u some thiing You make more this type blog where we can get more knowledge. http://www.penisenlargementz.com ..

[Penis Enlargement]

Penis enlargement productz, Natural herbal productz store for penis enlargement,Which increase
your size 4-6 inches, Double the size Double the fun.(Yes No Pain ALL Gain) And more products
like weight loss, male enhancement, skin care, acne solutions, breast enlargement, hairLoss for
men and women , multi Vitamin for men and women, optimum Diabetics, eazol Pain Relief , stretch
mark prevention, revitol skin brightener, revitol hair removal cream, revitol anti-aging
solution. http://www.naturalherbalproductz.com

[penis enlargement]

Blogs are becoming the main source of knowing about things certainty,its
importance,idolizing,either in a marketing way that one can differentiate.I
enjoyed to be at here because one of my point has been cleared here.
http://www.naturalherbalproductz.com

[Penis Enlargement]

There are a number of important things you can do now which can greatly increase your chances of good health. Our mission is to help you achieve and maintain good health and this is how we will do this:

1) By providing useful free information via this website that you can USE straight away.

2) By making available to you, effective health supplements with superior quality at very good prices.

3) By always being available to help answer any questions you may have on health matters or problems.
http://herbal-products.ze.cx

[penis enlargement]

health and medical news and information on health care drugs and medicines for healthy living and better life. www.naturalherbalz.com

[Rouche]

I am sorry no explic englich

[penis enlargement]

The Natural Herbal Pills like penis enlargement pills,top rated penis pills,penis enlargement devices,penis patches,penis exercieses for penis size enlargement.

[penis enlargement]

By using natural penis enlargement exercises, your penis will fills with more blood that can increase its length and girth. Its length can increase by up to 3 inches. How can it happen? Your penis has 3 main chambers. The two large on the top are the Corpora Cavernosa and the one on the bottom is Corpus Spongisum. These three chambers, important factors that can affect your penis size, will fills with blood when you gain an erection. The Corpora Cavernosa is the main chamber to hold the blood.

[penisenlargement]

penisenlargement products reviews by consumer best choice to select one of the best penis enlargement system to get longer, larger and harder penis size with powerful erection and long time penis result and permanent straight and big penis at  www.penissizeenlargement.net

[Size Genetics]

This is such an information blog i have seen in my whole life, i am seriously inspired by this blog entry and i am glad to post my views there. thanks to webmaster.

[penis enlargement]

penis enlargement products and penis enlargement reviews that discover top penis size enlargement pills, patches, oils and devices that gain 1-3 inches gain in your penis size at www.penissizeenlargement.net

[yahoo music]

Very interesting article

[youtube music videos]

thanks ver god site..................

[Acomplia]

This is gonna huge, i just cant belive it that i am standing at a great blog of my life, i am really glad to have my comment here in very decent topic. thanks to webmaster.

[enlarge penis]

hello webmaster! i am really appreciating you for your kindness that you have made a really interesting blog and pick all the great topics for which peoples are always seeking to get information and share their ideas. Great work Man and keep it going. God bless you!

[penis enhancement]

This is one of the best blog, i have ever seen in my life, really impressive work by webmatser, i must wanna share my views about this posting, that very low rang of people talk about this in public forum so hats off to blogger. thnx.

[Increase Penis Size]

More & more people know that blog are good for every one where we get lots of information any topics !!!

[onlinemovieez]

You Can Watch Online New Romantic, Comedy, Horror, Sexual And Moral Hollywood Full Movies 100% Updated and totally Free Available Only At: http://onlinemovieez.info/

[Weight Loss Pills]

Weight Loss & Muscles Builder Inc Offer best weight loss products. Start Losing weight upto ( 1-5 lbs in week ) & We also offer best muscles builder product like XtremeNo which give you strong muscles or six packs as you want forever. Start Losing weight & look slim. If you aren’t satisfied with results your money will back without asking any question try out No Risk - http://www.best-weight-supplements.com/

[Prosolution pills]

It really depends on blog's owner to open comments or not. Sometimes I really enjoy reading comments made on my blog.

[Natural herbals]

Natural herbals Store Provide Huge Health care Products world wide range concern on men's health, women’s health, alternative health, sexual health, weight loss & skin care & much more discounted available with best quality & varieties. Have a look please - http://www.Naturalherbalsstore.com/