Inheritance Tax

[icowden]

Were the new owners' names Tom and Maria?

No - that was my Uncle and Auntie. Tom and Marian.

 

[icowden]

Why do you want special treatment for living in an affluent area?

Because those areas also have schools, hospitals, local police, shop workers etc. Or are you saying we should all move to Norfolk (at which point house prices in Norfolk will become extremely high). I'm not living in millionaire's row (that's about 15 minutes drive away... !)

 

[newfhouse]

Because those areas also have schools, hospitals, local police, shop workers etc. Or are you saying we should all move to Norfolk (at which point house prices in Norfolk will become extremely high). I'm not living in millionaire's row (that's about 15 minutes drive away... !)

Honestly, I don't understand. You're usually able to explain your point of view even if I don't always agree with you but all I can see here is entitlement and greed. That can't be all it is, can it?

 

[icowden]

Honestly, I don't understand. You're usually able to explain your point of view even if I don't always agree with you but all I can see here is entitlement and greed. That can't be all it is, can it?

I don't see what's greedy about wanting to stay in the house you grew up in when your parents pass.

 

[newfhouse]

I don't see what's greedy about wanting to stay in the house you grew up in when your parents pass.

I have wants too. I don’t expect to have them funded by tax concessions.

I keep stating the figures because they keep being ignored: your heirs get to keep the first half million plus sixty percent of everything beyond that and you’re vexed that they might have to sell or take out a relatively small mortgage if they do actually want to keep the house.

smh

 

[icowden]

I keep stating the figures because they keep being ignored: your heirs get to keep the first half million plus sixty percent of everything beyond that and you’re vexed that they might have to sell or take out a relatively small mortgage if they do actually want to keep the house.

It's very hard to get a mortgage when you are still at school or university. And to flip it over, why is it fair that someone living in Norfolk gets to keep their large 5 bedroom detached house, but someone in Surrey must be forced to sell their 3 bedroom semi?

That doesn't seem fair to me.

 

[newfhouse]

It's very hard to get a mortgage when you are still at school or university.

Do you want tax policy to be based on the purported desires - not needs - of a handful of young orphans?

And to flip it over, why is it fair that someone living in Norfolk gets to keep their large 5 bedroom detached house, but someone in Surrey must be forced to sell their 3 bedroom semi?

That doesn't seem fair to me.

Do you think the way to fix house price disparity is to bake it even deeper into the tax system?

 

[Ian H]

Unless it was 99% it would still make the point that it was a tax on the estates of the ultra rich for most of the time it has been around, whereas now it can easily be a tax on the estate of someone in Hackney who bought their council flat. (Which is not an argument for doing away with it, just an observation that it wasn't intended for those people).

 

[AuroraSaab]

I can see IC's point. My friend bought her fairly modest house 40 plus years ago, never had much money, lives only on her State pension, no savings due to divorce. Due to ridiculous house prices her house was worth £600k. She's sold up and moved to a cheaper area to free up some cash. She would never think of trusts or tax avoidance schemes. Inheritance tax was never meant to catch out people like her, but unfortunately it does - it might not seem completely fair but I can't see a way of making it any better that doesn't disproportionately advantage the much better off.

 

[icowden]

Do you think the way to fix house price disparity is to bake it even deeper into the tax system?

No. I think we should just do away with inheritance tax and find a better way to raise taxes.

 

[newfhouse]

I can see IC's point. My friend bought her fairly modest house 40 plus years ago, never had much money, lives only on her State pension, no savings due to divorce. Due to ridiculous house prices her house was worth £600k. She's sold up and moved to a cheaper area to free up some cash. She would never think of trusts or tax avoidance schemes. Inheritance tax was never meant to catch out people like her, but unfortunately it does - it might not seem completely fair but I can't see a way of making it any better that doesn't disproportionately advantage the much better off.

How did it catch her out?

 

[newfhouse]

No. I think we should just do away with inheritance tax and find a better way to raise taxes.

Raise tax but not from you or yours?

I think those with the largest incomes, earned and unearned, should pay the most tax in order to reflect the greater benefits they have received from society, but then I’m just an evil socialist so what do I know?

 

[AuroraSaab]

How did it catch her out?

Maybe 'caught out' was the wrong term. I don't think inheritance tax was created with people like her in mind but that's the situation we are in. The best way to deal with it would be to get the housing market under control, but no government has wanted to do that for 40 years so they aren't going to start now.

 

[theclaud]

never had much money,

her house was worth £600k

 

[BoldonLad]

I disagree. I think it needs to be balanced based on the area of the country. £500k would catch almost all of the houses in my local area. In my little close, almost every 3 bed semi with a small garden is worth more than £500k. These are not mansions. These are 1986 new builds.

Should the number of beneficiaries not be taken into consideration too?, in your case the spoils are being divided two ways, my poor kids will have a six way split.