No tax divides the Left and Right quite like inheritance tax.
It emerged this week that Kemi Badenoch was considering abolishing the death duty if the Conservatives win the next election. Reform UK has already said it wants to “get rid” of the 40pc charge.
By comparison, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously suggested reducing the rate to 10pc but applying it to all estates by removing the tax-free allowance.
Inheritance tax is often called the most hated tax in Britain despite affecting only a small minority of the population. A YouGov poll of 2,000 adults last year found that 54pc support its abolition.
Chris Etherington, of accountancy firm RSM, said: “Inheritance tax only represents around 1pc of the taxes raised each year, but it often triggers the strongest emotional response from taxpayers.
“Even those who are not affected can take issue with it. It’s often seen as a second layer of tax on a lifetime of work.”
Yet it provokes an equally strong reaction from those who see it as a fair way of redistributing wealth – in that it does not go far enough.
After news broke that the Conservatives were considering scrapping inheritance tax, Lewis Goodall, of The News Agents podcast, posted in support of raising it to 70pc or 80pc. “We’re talking about a tax which affects only the wealthiest estates,” he wrote on social media platform X.
