“Top Tories want to cut Stamp Duty or abolish Inheritance Tax after by-election thumpings, reports”

Oct 30, 2023 | Tax

I have to say my first reaction to this was anger, that these ‘Top Tories’ would think that enough of the voting population would be shallow enough not to see through such an obvious election bribe. Maybe they’re right, but it’s a more than a little desperate, isn’t it and very much targeted at the at-risk Blue Wall. Noone likes paying Stamp Duty, and noone’s family likes paying IHT. But they would of course, be stealthily replaced by, respectively, some other form of transaction and gift tax, the argument being that both would bring us more in line with other countries’ systems. Rejoining the World rather than asserting our independence. Cynical? Moi?

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“HMRC scraps plans to tax pensions after death”

“HMRC scraps plans to tax pensions after death”

A couple of other Statement Highlights (in my world, anyway). A welcome ‘nothing happened’ on the treatment of pensions on death. They were never going to be liable to IHT (too complicated with trusts and trust law) but there was talk of making them income-taxable on the recipients at whatever age you die.