A Conservative leader’s latest push to overhaul inheritance tax has revived a familiar political tactic, with critics accusing the party of prioritizing wealthy households. The proposal echoes a 2007 pledge by a former chancellor to exempt family homes from inheritance tax, a move that once delayed a snap election by the opposition. Though the earlier plan included a £1 million threshold, economic pressures after the financial crisis prevented its implementation. The debate now centers on whether such tax cuts would benefit the affluent while straining public finances.
The Tory leader’s proposal to slash the tax would shovel £6bn of taxpayer money to the already-wealthyKemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit is a Conservative classic. After all, it was George Osborne’s high-profile pledge to “take the family home out of inheritance tax” in 2007 that put Gordon Brown off calling a snap general election.In practice, Osborne’s plan involved a £1m threshold for inheritance tax – and given the global financial crisis had blown a hole in the public finances by the time the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition came to power in 2010, it never came to pass. Continue reading...
