Inhertitance tax is the worst tax of all!?

Question

not only do you have to suffer the pain and loss of lossing a loved one but then the UK Government (aka robbing B*******S) come along and say 'well if your going to get anymore than £285,000 then we want 40% of anything above!!'.......... just because!

it was 275,000 so they have increased the amount.... but thats only in line with house prices.... watch when they drop, the threshold will to!

just wondering what you folks think

Answer 1

You think you have a problem with inheritance tax....in Spain it kicks in after just 15,000€! Has to be paid within 6 months otherwise fines are added, and one cannot sell the property to pay the tax bill....and silly people think its a good idea to sell up in the Uk and buy in Spain......

Answer 2

You ask an interesting question.

An Inheritance Tax (IHT), when wisely designed by economists who understand the full effect on all society rather than the individuals whom have to pay it, serves as a useful tool to keep money in circulation and decrease parity between the haves and have-nots. While all taxes are painful, a well-designed IHT is not the worst tax of all by any means.

The UK has one of the best IHT systems around. It has all the functions of an excellent wealth transference system.

1) It is 100% avoidable with a little advance planning. This "advance planning" serves to increase the transfers of wealth from the eldest generation to the next while the next generation is still youthful and energetic.

2) Younger people tend to spend more than the elderly; by having a system that encourages such transfers, it keeps money in circulation and being used.

3) It also increases transfers to charities, through tax incentives for charitable donations.

4) It's gradual. In the UK, it takes about a century of IHT incentives for an old-money family to open up its ancestral family home to the public, allowing the country's people regular access to the country's cultural heritage. At this point, most stately homes are open at least a few days a year for public visits. Some are open year-round. This is entirely down to IHT incentives in the UK.

5) The final benefit of inheritance tax is a socialist return of capital to the people. If a family is not able or willing to prepare for IHT, then they are not able to hold onto the money and it passes back to the people (via tax). This is Darwinism in action - survival of the fittest. If you are not capable of arranging your affairs in such a way as to hold on to the majority of your capital for your heirs after you are dead, then you are quite literally not fit to do so.

The US has a mediocre system; in that it has few incentives other than the charity incentive. Zimbabwe has one of the worst, in that it is not gradual and the likelihood is that the wealthy who are able to all leave the country (taking their money with them) rather than die there.

The worst taxes are regressive taxes, chief amongst these being Council Tax, TV license, but also Sales Taxes, Stamp duty, and VAT. Regressive taxes tax the poor more than the wealthy. Any tax where the poor pay a higher percentage of their annual income in that regressive tax than the wealthy do is unfair and should be changed or eliminated.

Answer 3

Inheritance tax now catches far more people than it was ever meant to - it was designed to ensure that people who lived off inherited wealth and paid little in the way of income tax contributed something to the revenue. then successive governments failed to raise the threshold in line with house prices, and so we have a grossly unfair and extremely unpopular tax.

Another side effect is on the housing market - as parents know that anything over threashold that they leave to their children will be cut in half by the tax man, they use the money during their lifetimes to help their children get on the housing ladder. this disguises the fundamental problem first-time buyers have with affordability these days, and keeps the market artificially high.

Answer 4

No, fuel duty is the worst tax.

Inheritance tax is a bloody cheek but at the end of the day it is money you weren't expecting so you can manage without it. Taxes on things that you have to use everyday regardless are the worst since it affects you for your entire life.

£80 a month is good for council tax. I pay £90 a month and I live in a band A property.

Answer 5

The worst tax is council tax mine is just under £80 a month because I live in a rural area & can see a field from my back garden, the fact it's a housing assoc 2 bed mid terrace house don't come into it.

You think tax is bad now you wait and see what happens when hardly anyone smokes the tax people used to pay on fags will have to come from somewhere else probably by reducing working tax and child tax credits

Answer 6

Earning...taxed, pension income....taxed, so you pay tax twice on the money you save, then it is taxed again when you pass it on. Of course it's unfair. Want to change it???? Start a political party, get some viable candidates, win an election and get rid of it, otherwise speak to a financial advisor about leaving all your assets to an offshore company that you set up with no tracable directors and give the bank account and books to your kids that way. No one can touch it, it's what all the politicians and lawyers do, they just don't tell you about it.

If you're worried about it, you're not rich anyway as rich people always know how to protect their assests.....Apart from Paul McArtney, who is going to have to give all his money to Long Joanne Silver ha ha ha ha ha....

Answer 7

Whilst sensitive of people's loss; an alternative view is this:

In 1889, steel baron Andrew Carnegie helped launch the age of institutional philanthropy with an essay titled, “The Gospel of Wealth.” Though he was an agnostic who disdained organized religion, Carnegie argued that the business elite had a moral obligation to give something back to the capitalist system. “To die rich is to die in disgrace,” he said.

This has lead to the the Gates and Rockerfeller foundations, the view is that all people should live life on an equal footing based on their own ability.

Answer 8

Yep sucks..The U.S. has the same thing...Bush has been trying to eliminate it...but the left keeps saying it only helps the rich....But the left is outta touch...somoenes net worth could be well over 1 million easily...especially when home prices are nearly 1/2 a mil...besides...what does the poor have to do with it anyways.....they don't pay taxes anyways.

Answer 9

You are quite right...........and take it a stage further...........You earn a pound, they take up to 40% tax off (and NHI). You spend the remaining 60p but they get 17.5% VAT on most of that (plus other things like road fuel tax).
Its a miracle that you have enough to pay the mortgage and finish up with anything left to pay Inheritance Tax on!

Answer 10

Mmmm i think it stinks after all the person that leaves you the money has been paying tax on that money all thier lives.I think it should be tax free so at least you could live a little.