![]() Work towards this by Natural Resources Wales is already under way.īut nothing is ever quite as it seems in Wales. He should perhaps have mentioned the manifesto promise of Mark Drakeford, Wales’s Chief Minister, to elevate the existing Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to be Wales’s fourth National Park. SIR – Greg Dickinson (“ The landscapes that should be National Parks, but aren’t”, Features, June 6) draws attention to the appalling decisions taken over many years to deny National Park status to the Cambrian Mountains, which run like a spine of beauty down the middle of Wales. Instead the tax is on the estate of the deceased, whether or not the will spreads it around friends and family or leaves it all to one person.Īs an aside, the farmland exemption has simply resulted in the rich buying land as an investment, driving up the price to levels that make farming uneconomic unless assisted by taxpayer subsidies and grants. SIR – If we had an actual inheritance tax that taxed the recipients of our inheritances – preferably at a sliding progressive rate, with a tax-free band for children and grandchildren – the system would be much fairer. ![]() It might be better to campaign for inheritance tax to be abolished and a house profit sales tax to be introduced. Earnings are taxed as you receive them and if you put some of what is left over into savings you are taxed again, with only the £1,000 savings allowance to protect you – much less than the £325,000 IHT allowance. SIR – Inheritance tax goes some way to restoring the imbalance between home owners, whose wealth increases tax-free, and home renters, whose wealth is taxed year by year.ĭouble taxation of renters is equally applicable here. Inheritance tax is one of the better taxes, as it is progressive, has a minimal impact on incentives and is relatively painless. We already pay income tax when we earn money, and VAT and excise when we spend it. However, the largest asset in most people’s estate is their home, the value of which will have been greatly boosted by untaxed capital gain.ĭouble taxation is not really an issue anyway. Mr Johnson also says that people have usually paid tax on their assets at some point in their lives and that IHT is double taxation. However, people who can afford to buy a home have usually done so long before they receive a significant inheritance, and those who have not bought a house in their twenties or thirties are likely to have parents without significant assets to leave to them. SIR – Daniel Johnson ( Comment, June 4) says that inheriting money can help young people to buy their own home. Given the additional income and other tax that would be raised from these sources, the abolition of IHT could, in fact, be a net gain to the Exchequer. ![]() Without IHT, living here would be a hugely attractive proposition against places such as Monaco or Lisbon. We should be encouraging high net worth individuals to stay in this country and others to return. Avoiding this tax is the prime motivation behind the exodus of many people to tax havens. ![]() SIR – The Treasury states that inheritance tax (IHT) raises £7 billion per annum, but not what it costs in taxes foregone.
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