Ringing the death knell

The UK's attitude to inheritance tax (IHT) has always been somewhat ambivalent. The modern day version was introduced in 1984 as a successor to capital transfer tax and it is regarded by many as one of the most unfair taxes, as all of the assets that a person has built up in their lives has presumably already been taxed - either through income tax or capital gains - and therefore to tax them once again on death seems to be a clear case of double taxation. Nonetheless, as is the case for so many taxes, once it is in place, it is incredibly difficult to remove it. The budgets of government...