The Conservative IHT family home pledge and the behaviour it may reward

Kemi Badenoch's announcement that a future Conservative government would exempt the family home from inheritance tax (IHT) will produce the usual arguments about fairness, affordability and whether inherited wealth should be taxed at all.  But I think there is a more interesting question. What happens when the tax system starts rewarding people for retaining an asset they might otherwise have good reason to spend? Taxation raises revenue. It also changes behaviour, sometimes as intended, sometimes not. And we have a very clear example approaching us. For years, one of the organisin...