Will he/won’t he abolish Inheritance Tax? The Pre-Budget rumour is still out there, perhaps ‘running it up the flagpole to see if it catches the wind’, or perhaps to distract from other rabbits which may be pulled from Jeremy H’s figurative hat. And yet, IHT is bringing in record amounts, on track for £5.7bn in the current tax year. But contrast that with CGT, £17.8bn and income tax £1025bn, of which the top 1% of earners pay around £21bn, and you can see why ending IHT would sound good and not actually make a big dent in the finances. Particularly as it would more than likely be replaced by a ‘gift tax’ of some kind, which will sound nicer but end up raising more. Remember, too, that previous governments proudly abolished the predecessors of IHT. Estate Duty became Capital Transfer Tax and, yes, that became Inheritance Tax. And not a lot changed.
“Donating to charity via a will could see beneficiaries profit”
Including gifts to charity in your will is a nice thing to do, but it’s often only for those without anyone obvious to whom they can leave their worldly worth. Or perhaps when there are obvious recipients they don’t wish to benefit; families can be funny things.
