Rishi Sunak’s answer to the cost-of-living crisis: axe a tax that only the super-rich pay
Rishi Sunak: yes, I’m using the image of him with that avaricious look on his face again. Grasping little creep…
Rishi Sunak really is a creep, isn’t he?
If this report from the Sunday Times is accurate, then he’s trying to drum up support for axing a tax that only millionaires pay, under a completely false claim that it is “the most hated tax in Britain”.
Relieving the heirs of the super-rich of this tax will deprive the Treasure of £7.2 billion per year, meaning that – if government spending remains the same – inflation will increase. That’s because we all know taxation holds inflation down. Right?
So this plan to attack the cost-of-living crisis will actually worsen it. Can you smell a rat?
Here’s the Sunday Times announcement:
As part of his pledge to announce a series of long-term decisions designed to change Britain, Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans to slash inheritance tax, dubbed “the most hated tax in Britain” https://t.co/ZRKSag0IYb
— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) September 23, 2023
Labour’s Darren Jones has already written to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, asking how the government proposes to pay for the change and what the Office for Budget Responsibility thinks about it:
A year ago Liz Truss trashed the economy with unfunded tax cuts.
Now Rishi Sunak is doing what Liz Truss wants.
Abolishing inheritance tax – which 96% of people never pay – is an unfunded tax cut of £7.2bn per year.
The biggest threat to the economy is the Conservative Party. pic.twitter.com/L53UXWPPmc
— Darren Jones MP (@darrenpjones) September 23, 2023
Bill Esterson has made the point that – yet again – Sunak is changing the UK’s system to benefit his own family; any heirs he has would benefit hugely from not having to pay Inheritance Tax:
Rishi Sunak’s answer to the cost of living crisis? Cut inheritance tax which 96% of us never pay. It will cost £7.2 billion.
Last year Liz Truss crashed the economy.
Now Sunak is repeating her mistakes with unfunded tax cuts.
Except this time it’s to benefit his own family.
— Bill Esterson (@Bill_Esterson) September 23, 2023
Apparently Sunak’s family will keep £300 million out of the Treasury this way:
Apparently Sunak is hoping to get support from people who don’t realise they’re never likely to pay this tax. Here’s Robert Peston:
If Sunday Times is correct that Sunak wants to abolish inheritance tax, this quote in its scoop from a government insider is just priceless, by way of justification for the tax cull: “a lot of people don’t know that they won’t pay it”. The point, which this government adviser…
— Robert Peston (@Peston) September 23, 2023
So he’s highlighting the failure of the UK education system to teach its citizens about their own country – aided and abetted, of course, by Tory MPs.
Here’s Nick de Bois:
Inheritance tax is a hideous tax & it should be abolished.
It’s double taxation based on your death,in fact we should be happy to cascade any wealth down to family or whom we choose.
Don’t bottle this @RishiSunak -your instincts are righthttps://t.co/4lTf5EyHrN
— Nick de Bois CBE (@nickdebois) September 23, 2023
Does he really not know the facts about this tax? Perhaps he should have a word with Richard Murphy:
Inheritance tax is almost entirely a charge on otherwise untaxed capital gains. So can we stop all the ridiculous claims being made that inheritance tax is about double taxation? It’s about taxing something that would otherwise never be taxed. What’s unfair about that?
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 23, 2023
To summarise: axing Inheritance Tax would not ease the cost-of-living crisis but would worsen it – while increasing the wealth of less than four per cent of the population.
Sunak isn’t even going to try to win the next general election, I think.
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There is a lot of ignorance about this tax thanks largely to a campaign of disinformation by the media. The opinion poll that accompanied the Times article indicated that 31% thought they would be subject to inheritance tax. I do not think the Times reported the actual figure. Nor did it report that the tax is only levied above the threshold. Instead, it gave the impression that it was levied on the total value of the estate.
A short while ago, former Conservative MP David Gauke wrote an article in defence of the tax for the Conservative Home website.
Here are some extracts:
“Personally, I have never found IHT as offensive as some. The argument that it constitutes “double taxation” is unpersuasive. Lots of taxes are paid out of post-tax income, and if we want to abolish them all we would need much higher levels of income tax.”
“In any event, for most estates the bulk of the values derives from the appreciation in the value of the family home – a capital gain which has not been taxed at all. Nor is it some unspeakable intrusion on the grief of loved ones for an element of an estate to be taxed. In all likelihood, the beneficiaries in these circumstances will still be inheriting more than most people ever will. Good luck to them – but this hardly constitutes an intolerable hardship.”
(Please post my comment, thank you).
Carpet salesman Rishi Sunak has to protect his money and ensure his relatives inherit all his wealth!! After all being a fake prime minister whilst continuing his carpet sales business is why Sunak was given the fake job of ‘prime minister!’ Money has to be kept in the hands of the greedy fascist tories!