Headline:
INHERITANCE TAX - TAXING AT DEATH, Stephen Byers Claims
Description:
TAX NEWS: Byers calls for end to inheritance tax. By Dan Martin
Former transport secretary Stephen Byers has called for inheritance tax to be scrapped because it is increasingly penalising hard-working middle class families.
Byers said the 40% tax on estates worth more than £285,000 needs to be abolished because it is a "tax on death" and a "penalty for hard work, thrift and enterprise".
Writing in 'The Sunday Telegraph', the close ally of Tony Blair, who resigned as transport secretary in 2002 following a string of controversies, said IHT was originally meant to tax the wealthy but larger numbers have been included because the threshold has lagged behind property prices.
Green taxes could be increased, Byers said, to offset the scrapping of inheritance tax which "would show that New Labour is prepared to look again at the tax system to ensure that it is grounded in fairness and reflects the modern world in which we live".
"We know that Tony Blair will stand down at some stage before the next election," he added. "The danger for Labour in electoral terms has always been that when he departs…voters will feel that the pragmatic and modernising approach of New Labour has gone with him."
Byers' comments angered Labour ministers said to be allied to Gordon Brown. Trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling rubbished his claims accusing Byers of headline chasing.
"It may make for a headline, but I don't think it makes for a prudent tax and spend policy," he said. "Inheritance tax brings in about £3bn a year and if you get rid of it it follows that some other tax has got to go up or you've got to cut public spending, on health and education for example."
A Treasury spokesman added that the tax affects just 6% of estates and Byers was wrong to assume that most people with homes valued at more than £285,000 had paid off their mortgages.
One supporter of Gordon Brown told 'The Guardian': "I don't think Stephen Byers actually believes a word of this nonsense. He's probably just trying to get a bit of attention or stir up some division in the party, but even the most hardcore Blairite MPs think he's lost the plot this time."
source:accountingweb
Former transport secretary Stephen Byers has called for inheritance tax to be scrapped because it is increasingly penalising hard-working middle class families.
Byers said the 40% tax on estates worth more than £285,000 needs to be abolished because it is a "tax on death" and a "penalty for hard work, thrift and enterprise".
Writing in 'The Sunday Telegraph', the close ally of Tony Blair, who resigned as transport secretary in 2002 following a string of controversies, said IHT was originally meant to tax the wealthy but larger numbers have been included because the threshold has lagged behind property prices.
Green taxes could be increased, Byers said, to offset the scrapping of inheritance tax which "would show that New Labour is prepared to look again at the tax system to ensure that it is grounded in fairness and reflects the modern world in which we live".
"We know that Tony Blair will stand down at some stage before the next election," he added. "The danger for Labour in electoral terms has always been that when he departs…voters will feel that the pragmatic and modernising approach of New Labour has gone with him."
Byers' comments angered Labour ministers said to be allied to Gordon Brown. Trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling rubbished his claims accusing Byers of headline chasing.
"It may make for a headline, but I don't think it makes for a prudent tax and spend policy," he said. "Inheritance tax brings in about £3bn a year and if you get rid of it it follows that some other tax has got to go up or you've got to cut public spending, on health and education for example."
A Treasury spokesman added that the tax affects just 6% of estates and Byers was wrong to assume that most people with homes valued at more than £285,000 had paid off their mortgages.
One supporter of Gordon Brown told 'The Guardian': "I don't think Stephen Byers actually believes a word of this nonsense. He's probably just trying to get a bit of attention or stir up some division in the party, but even the most hardcore Blairite MPs think he's lost the plot this time."
source:accountingweb
Date:
21.08.2006
2008-04-03...
2008-04-03
So many company directors have rushed to sell their shares ahead of the 6 April 2008 Capital Gains Tax (CGT) changes that the Financial Services Authority has been forced to issued new guidance on director’s share dealing. Some of the highest profile names in British enterprise culture have disposed of substantial share holdings either outright or by making transfers to spouses and family trusts in order to preserve indexation allowances or crystalise gains ahead of the introduction of the new CGT regime....
2008-01-21
HMRC is publishing today more detail on the amendments to the residence and domicile tax rules which were announced in the 2007 Pre-Budget Report. The documents published today are:...
News Archive