Conservative Treasury minister Andrew Griffith has revealed that he believes inheritance tax (IHT) should be “eliminated”.
Speaking at a Conservative party conference event, Griffith said that, if he had the choice to abolish any one tax, it would be IHT, suggesting that it would fit in line with the prime minister’s “politically brave” agenda, and that we must have the “courage of our convictions”. He said:
“I celebrate wealth creating and risk taking. We’ve got to drive that into the system. It can’t be right that the only time a businessman is ever on the BBC is that they’re greedy, underpaying their staff or exploiting consumers. That cannot be right … The answer is that we – and this is why our new prime minister is so fantastic – have to be politically brave and have the courage of our convictions. Not enough of us make first principle defences of why it’s so important.”
Griffith, who is also a Conservative peer in the House of Lords, had his cries echoed by fellow peer and Conservative donor Michael Spencer.
This comes as inheritance tax increasingly finds itself under the spotlight as the value of people’s estates – and therefore their tax bill – skyrockets, propelled largely by the soaring values of residential property in the UK. All the while, the nil-rate band and residence nil-rate band have seldom changed.
The levy’s popularity is hardly endorsed by the news that King Charles III wasn’t to be liable for IHT on the estate he inherited from Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, with two in three suggesting that he should be made to pay the 40% charge.
