Pony

It often represents a form of double taxation because it is applied to assets which themselves have been acquired from earned income that itself has been taxed.

This illustrates my point
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/m.../20/do2009.xml

BAY

I didn't have a parental leg up. I worked bl**dy hard, saved hard for a deposit
(made sacrifices and didn't piss it up against the wall) and was able to buy a nice house in a nice area. No luck there. I should then be able to pass this on to whoever I want to without them being stung by IHT (one of Gordon Brown's many stealth taxes )

Mally Lass

Saying that 10m people want to leave 'Overtaxed' britain 'Because' they have to pay taxes is probably a little misguided. It's probably more to do with the fact that they wouldn't mind paying taxes if they saw their money being spent wisely.

Vehicle Exise Licence ??? I buy my car, pay to pass my test, therefore paying for a Licence to drive, and pay the Council to fix the roads, plus pay to have my car fixed, so what is this Tax for exactly ?

Council Tax ??? aka The Fresh Air Tax ??? To have my public street lighting on all night, and my bins emptied every other week, providing the bin man doesn't refuse to take it because it has a cardbord box in it, which should be in the recycling bin ???

I know after working hard for a mere 17 years and still paying higher taxes every year, I would like to see our Health system improved, not going to the dogs and more people dying from things caught whilst IN hospital, and like to see cleaner streets, instead of the trash we have strewn everywhere, I would like to see public facilitites improved, instead of being pulled down because there is no funding, I would like to see my children have a youth club to attend, instead of a zillion more mosques built and more ethnic charities popping up on every street corner, I would like to see schools and education improved, instead of schools and playgroups being closed for lack of funding, I would like to see my MPs working, rather than driving around in £30,000 cars, I would like to see public transport improve, instead of being the unreliable crap everyone knows it is, I would like to see MY taxes being spent wisely instead of erecting yet ANOTHER useless and ugly City monument that means nothing to anyone except the designer who commissioned it !

I think the problem here is our Governments greed to tax us at every available opportunity with nothing to offer us as a thank you for being a loyal citizen, well done for working hard all your life or congratulations you deserve to OWN your home in it's entirety when you die !!!

Just my opinion. Our Government is greedy and wastes money. The difference is, when people spend time in different countries and experience getting value for their money

theguitardoctor

As if the words came from my very own mouth...karma to you ML !!!

Cape Blue

Texas - most things you buy have double taxation - your income tax and the VAT on the item you bought, the fuel that delivered the items to the store had fuel tax and the truck had road tax. Double taxation is the norm.

You get taxed on the bank interest you get after paying your (already taxed) income into savings accounts.

The value of the principle asset - the house, has risen massively in the market and isn't taxed when passed to a spouse but is taxed when passed downwards.

The telegraph article was pretty lame - "devoted daughter looking after ailing mother" and like the farm house example is hardly representative of the vast majority of IHT cases. Regardless, Jean gets a 390K flat for 42K - she gets given 348,000 pounds of money that she hasn't worked for and the Gov give her 10 years to pay the 42K - 350 quid a month when she is now able to get a full-time job and she owns a 348K asset?

Excuse me if I'm not crying here when to rent a one bed flat in Brighton would be 750+ pcm.

Pony

With your logic perhaps we should tax gains made on every house sale, by this I mean your primary residense.

I'm not sure the relevance of the Brighton rental prices. Are you a socialist?

Mally Lass

Edited as I read the post wrong the first time

It's no-one Fault if their house makes money !!!! Plus why should Jean be paying for a house her mother already paid for WITH interest ???

ps Thanks for the Karma Guitar Dr

Cape Blue

I never suggested you personally had a parental leg-up. You can pass your money onto whom you want - I suggest you do it whilst you are alive and you will avoid IHT, otherwise you will have to contribute to society.

As I said earlier, some who are more financially successful (yourself & indeed myself) will have to pay more - think yourself fortunate that you are in such a good position due to your ability to work hard - what if you had contracted MS when you were 20 and weren't able to do that? Or what if you worked hard but had just stretched yourself to buy a big house in 1989 before the prices dropped to half and interest rates went up to 15% - not everyone who isn't financially successful is lazy or wastes their money you know - there is always plenty of luck involved whether it be good health luck or right time right place luck.

Try Nationmaster and look up the comparison tables for tax - the UK isn't especially bad.

Cape Blue

I think everyone would like to see their taxes spent on things they see as important.

Mally Lass

If I'm truly honest, apart from our Greedy Government, I would like to see the rear end of 'Po faced' Britain and it's hypocrisy and politically correctness gone mad and wouldn't look back either. It's one thing to watch what you say for offending people, but quite another to watch what you say, wear, EAT etc and tell your children NOT to state the obvious in the street for fear of repercussions

Cape Blue

I pointed out the Brighton rental prices to indicate that even after the IHT she is a lot better off on a weekly basis than most who have to pay rent - the article was saying it was well beyond her means to pay the 350pcm which makes me wonder how she would be able to live full-stop if it wasn't for living off of her mother.

Many countries have CGT on sale of primary residences which can be offset if you are buying another.

I am not sure where you are going with "are you a socialist". I believe in the free market, but with controls.

theguitardoctor

Ok lets reverse the whole situation here then and see if it should havethe same rules / feelings applied....

Jeans Mum dies and leaves Jean with gambling debts, euro lottery payouts for winnings she would never get, and credit card debts of £390,000 (hey, she gambled big)....is it right then that Jean should repay these, or even part of them when she had no control over the issue?

IHT is theft....and worse still it's thieving from the dead through the living.

BAY

'not everyone who isn't financially successful is lazy or wastes their money you know ' ... agree but a lot are and do waste their money.

Not luck but hard work

Cape Blue

Not sure I fully understand your argument there guitar?

As I said in my first post - there is a chunk of tax you are going to have to pay over your lifetime - you can pay it whilst you are alive or when you are dead. I think conceptually it is better is we can leave people with more of their earned income whilst they are living their lives and catch up on their tax liability when they are dead.

Put it this way - if we stopped IHT then income tax or other taxes would need to go up to compensate - do you want to pay more income tax now or give a little less free money to your kids when you die?

BAY

'..then income tax or other taxes would need to go up to compensate' ... not if New Labour didn't waste it .