Would David Cameron dare to give us this policy? He’s so scared, it seems, of seeming like a Tory that this is unlikely to be agreed I fear.
Inheritance Tax is an unreasonable tax that doesn’t raise significant funds, doesn’t apply to the very rich and causes smaller estates to be split up. The National Trust only exists because people cannot afford to keep the home that has been in their possession for generations. I love the National Trust, but it cannot be right that people’s homes are effectively taken from them.
Furthermore, just because the person who built a fortune has passed away, why does that mean that his or her family should not benefit? It feels far less like genuine fund-raising and far more like a socialist ideal to stop people benefiting from their parent’s successes.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Generally I find Redwood a pretty unattractive personality, but I think he has done a pretty good job with his policy statement.
I haven’t read it in detail yet, but the one aspect of the hadline reporting of it that startled me was the apparent desire to modify.(abolish?) the Data Protection Act. I need to understand better precisely what is suggested here.
As for the abolition of Inheritance Tax, I’m all for it. I’m also interested in what may be the implications for CGT, Ideally I would wish to see the ovewrall tax burden reduced very considerably, obviously necessitating a significant reduction in public spending (and a parallel reduction the size of the government), but I must accept that public opionion and the votes which follow are not going to go anything like that far. So if all that happens is that Inheritance Tax is reduced (preferably abolished) and some onerous regulations are simplified then I suppose that’s at least a small step in the right direction, and the voters might just agree with it in sufficient numbers, although with Redwood as the author (I know this is unfair) it probably reduces its chances of acceptance by the wider public. His is the tragedy of the extremely clever man who does not have the ‘common touch’, in the way that Mrs T (yes, her) had in spades at least in the early years.
August 18th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Agree completely, Gavin.