| Everyone accepts that tax must be raised to pay for essential services. But currently the tax to GDP burden stands at 37%, the highest since the 1940s. That is because taxpayers are also being asked to finance a lot of things they shouldn’t have to pay for such as benefits for people who are fit to work but choose not to do so. As a general rule taxation depresses growth. So the trick is to find the least harmful way of raising tax. I don’t think that IHT, which is projected to affect almost 10% of all estates by 2030, but more in the London area, is a particularly fair method of taxation. |