Ian Jack engagingly highlights the massive inequality being created by the inheritance of property (Property feeds the roots of inequality in Britain, 22 April), but does not say what can be done about it. Inheritance tax would be a good idea if people paid it, but they mostly don’t. There is an abundance of advice online and in the press on how to avoid IHT quite legally. The richest landowners would be foolish not to take advantage of these exceptions. On the other hand, a tax on the value of land cannot be avoided, yet despite centuries of intelligent discussion from all points of the political compass it has not surfaced as a headline policy option for over a century. There are technical puzzles around registration and valuation to be argued over, but the real obstacle is political. People who own the most valuable land would have to pay more than they currently do in council or inheritance taxes. Between 1909 and 1914 the landed gentry, in the form of the House of Lords, effectively sabotaged an attempt to introduce LVT by the then Liberal government’s chancellor, David Lloyd George. In the most polarised election for decades, his words should inspire the Liberal Democrats and Labour now: “a fully-equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two dreadnoughts, but is much less easy to scrap”.
Dr Sebastian Kraemer
London
• Ian Jack gives us an excellent account of the unfair wealth windfall being accrued by older homeowners and passed on to their children and grandchildren. I’m surprised he doesn’t mention the Tory rules that were just made operational this April 2017, which mean you could pay even less inheritance tax if you’re leaving property to a family member. Hardly any media pointed out the effect this will have on increasing inequality via property, mainly because the vast majority of homeowners are quite happy to go along with it. Jeremy Corbyn says the Labour party would fund a £10-a-week rise to the carer’s allowance by reversing this inheritance tax cut, but how many potential Labour voters who are also homeowners will support this? Where is our sense of social justice?
Mary Ann Hooper
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
April 26, 2017 at 11:18PM
from Letters
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