It`s the politics of envy ( can`t remember who said that first ) . The have-nots want the haves to pay more tax . When I was a pennyless student , I probably shared a similar sentiment . But , be careful - the message it sends out is damaging . Life is not fair , otherwise we could all look like DeCaprio / Gina lolobrigida ( sorry , showing my age now ) and have the riches of Dyson .

One idea that I think is worth considering is whether death should be a chargeable event for Capital Gains Tax before the net balance is available for distribution - potentially could be some offset against IHT liability.

I know a number of people in their 70s and 80s who would/should sell their BTL properties/second homes but fear the reaper visiting shortly after and leaving an IHT bill on recently-taxed capital gains; far cheaper to die having not realised the gain.

I believe in Canada there is no inheritance tax but capital gains come due upon death which might encourage more velocity in housing

But I do !!

My great, great, gandparents lost their fortune due to being unable to pay the taxes. My grandparents were literally thrown off their estates (and the slimy politicians too it over in various guises which they themselves concocted) and they went without shelter for a couple of weeks with my grandparents. Mr grandfather left his family to go off in distant lands working all hours and jobs to earn money. Eventually the family managed to secure an outbuilding (rented of course) to house themselves. My grandfather did not manage to see off his parents and vice versa.

He then managed to secure purchase a tiny plot of land from our own estate from the very official who had forced the family out. He married but spent very little time with my grandmother and his family given he would travel distances in search of work. Long story short he passed away and I barely remember him as I only saw him on a few occasions.

My father and uncle also toiled hard, and though my uncle did try and support my father in his education, it was too much and as such my father had to drop out and work two jobs all in order to support the family (ies). Both of them managed to buy a family home of sorts.

Just as my father rarely got to see his father, I also saw very little of my father up until the age of 8 when my father and mother decided the we would move to an area which offered better opportunities in all spheres. Even then my father was away a lot earning to pay the rent and bills. The overarching aim was to buy our own home and within a couple of years my mother and father has indeed saved enough to buy one but given their income had to settle for sub prime mortgages and then live through high inflation and rates meaning we went without a lot and often wondered where the next meal was coming from.

He also ensured that I get educated and took on a weekend job to help with the costs and stopped me from taking any fancy new courses and ensured I stuck to the traditional qualifications which any interviewing employer was familiar with.

In my youth my father, myself and siblings all worked hard (from the ages of 12/13), get ourselves through state education (supported by extra paid for tuition), did without a lot, many a times looked down upon and critisised and managed to build up an asset bases and estate. Only to be told that we are mugs and it s far easier to shout at the well off and lobby the politicians.

So what exactly is it that I do not understand ? Granted my lineage is one from old money but I have seen it lost by unscrupulous officials and politicians but we are still trying to make a comeback.

In fact in my household 10% of our earning are gifted to the needy each year, then you have the adhoc donations, then you have the community support programme. On top, it is our intention to put my parents house (when my mother passes away) into a charitable trust. However given I still want to grow my estate and wealth, does that make me a greedy, bad individual.

If anything I would say that it is not the rich but the politicians and officials whom one should target, for they are the ones who, instead of governing have figured out that it is easier to manipulate people by being in office and also keep the focus away from their affairs by managing the affairs of everyone else. The rich pay the politicians, for it is the only way to stop the politicians and officials coming after them. In the west we call it donations, in other parts it is called bribery.

With regards to the official who landed our estate in the name of the people, he and his clan only got richer and they guard the public offices and ensure no outsider get a chance. Indeed Politics is an earnest business after all and a lucrative one at that.

I'm not convinced that that is the answer. We already have a peculiar tax system whereby high earners pay an awful lot and half the country pays no income tax at all. Education could be a lot better, the abolition of grammar schools being a disastrous mistake, and one wonders why it is necessary to have 20% of people paid by the state. There are more staff in the MoD than in the Armed forces.

My grandfather left school at 14 and boot-strapped himself up to owning his house and a shop. I never saw him read a book. My father by dint of some effort got into a Yorkshire grammar school at 11+, decent A Levels, then a scholarship to Oxford, a National Service Officer Commission (the Russian school), re-located to London and was in Who's Who in his mid-30s. Three out of four of his children went to Oxbridge, the dunce of the family going to Edinburgh. Two of them became professors in universities, one a TV producer/director, and the black sheep of the family (me) into the City, to hold a series of highly risky but well-remunerated jobs. Obviously this is anecdotal, but I think it illustrates that opportunities are there for those who make an effort. Just doling out free money is I think unlikely ever to make much difference.

And if we are quoting verse I will give you Chesterton's 'The Song of the Strange Ascetic'

https://www.chesterton.org/the-s...-of-the-strange-ascetic/

But Higgins is a Heathen,
And he drives the dreary quill,
To lend the poor that funny cash
That makes them poorer still.

Comment

Strange if you work hard all your life manage to buy your own home bring up your 2 children and save a bit of money and get cancer you will die a relatively rich person. If you get dementia you will get nothing from the state and end up perhaps after 3-4 years in a home almost bankrupt.

Your neighbour living nearby worked some of the time didn't own his home but had an annual summer holiday for the family for 50 years at round £3000 per annum ended up in the same home for those with dementia and received all his treatment and accommodation free.

That is a problem in a welfare state where about 40% of the people pay no taxes and live off welfare. I could almost weep at the treatment ex forces people get despite promises - you know the ones sitting on the streets next to the gangs of beggars every town seems to attract.