Labour 10% 'death tax' plans condemned

What 'Taxpayers Alliance'?

They certainly do not speak for this taxpayer. When I read comments such as those by 'Taxpayers Alliance' spokesman Mark Wallace I am reminded of the line by Cassius to Brutus in my O-Level Julius Caesar; "The fault Dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves". Convert it from the Shakespeare to present day language and I guess you could say that we have crap politicians because we have a crap electorate obsessed with trivia and unwilling to make hard responsible choices. At the moment we have a situation where many inheritances are almost totally lost to nursing home fees. In many cases these are the smaller estates worth maybe £150k that pre-death was largely tied up in bricks and mortar, the estates of working class people who have not had the benefit of financial planning such as tenancies in common and property trusts. These also tend to be the estates that would bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people if they were substantially passed on, helping their chldren reduce debt and buy homes. If the scheme works properly, if such estates in future are all passed on less a 10% charge and if every elderly person can count on funded care then a great many people will be vastly better off. Wallace's tantrum seems to be predicated on the farcical notion that somewhere there is a pot of money to pay for care that does not come out of the pocket of taxpayers. There isn't. Politicians have no money of their own. Governments have no money of their own. It's all tyaxpayers money and what really matters is that it is raised and spent as honestly, efficiently and fairly as possible. I personally know many families that would have benefited from Labour's proposals had they been enacted years ago. Whoever wins the election, I hope they have the honesty and sense to push this through.

Posted by: Neil F Liversidge