Theft and more theft
October 10th, 2007For those of us who are members of the school that Inheritance Tax (ie. death duty) has under this Government increasingly come to resemble legalised theft, last week’s announcement by George Osborne that the next Conservative Government will raise the individual threshold to £1million was manna from heaven. At a stroke, millions of people who cannot be regarded as wealthy will be removed from its baleful effects. It has the virtue of simplicity, which cannot be said for yesterday’s announcement by the Chancellor.
For those people who have already taken steps to protect their assets with discretionary will trusts (ie. a large number), his move to extend the threhold for couples to £600,000 will be meaningless. The announced increase to £700,000 in the years ahead is a re-hash of the Government’s already stated intention to increase individual thresholds to £350,000. A bit of microwaving, and then more smoke and mirrors. The Brown/Darling years have seen a tax system that is now fiendishly complex and almost unintelligible. It is playing its part in creating an atmosphere of cynicism about politicians that is most unwelcome.
Andy Burnham’s embarrassing performance on Newsnight last night reflects a Government that has completely lost the plot on tax. His smiles and body language conveyed the impression of a Chief Secretary who didn’t believe his own spin.
The Government do not know how much the non-doms earn each year, so to criticise the Tories for uncertainty as to their numbers is rather rich, to say the least. Last week’s attempt by Labour to draw Treasury Civil Servants in a political attempt to trash the Tory policy was yet another example of how they continually blur the line between politicians and civil servants.
The virtue of the Conservative proposal to levy a £25,000 annual rate on non-doms is that it is simple and relatively easy to administer. Any system based upon amounts that vary from individual to individual will be yet another mound of red tape.
The worst thing about yesterday’s statement was its cheek. A mere seven days have passed since the Conservative announcement, and Labour is already trying to steal our clothes. Another theft that compounds the original one.
