Posted: Mar 16, 2012 1:55 pm
by DaveScriv
Seems like a seriously bad move on all fronts to me, as it will only benefit very few people, including Conservative party supporters.
If he thinks the treasury can afford a tax cut which will help him politically with the middle classes he should have gone for an increase in the inheritance tax threshold. At the current £300,000 it hits a lot of very ordinary people, perhaps just a house in the London area, or a house plus a modest business premises (a shop or small factory) + house contents & business stock + some fairly ordinary savings. Hardly 'rich', and bearing in mind that those people have been taxed up to the eyeballs achieving such a legacy.
Osborne has said he'd like to see the theshold increased to a million. OK, so this wouldn't sound very PC in current circumstances, but a doubling of the theshold to £600,000 would still be well within the amounts which lots of people supporting all parties would consider quite normal for a person to reasonably pass on to their children and/or other relatives after a life of hard work (& taxes!).

BTW, I agree with Bill about a cut in VAT as also being something which would benefit everyone. Just saying, the inheritance threshold is too low as well.