Inheritance tax

Guardian : Your shout

Saturday September 25, 2004

A few home truths...

Shame on the editor of Jobs & Money. In his rant in favour of inheritance tax, he seemed to think only those inheriting "unearned wealth'" are hit by IHT.

Perhaps across the country only one in 20,000 households are affected by IHT, but I bet that percentage is much higher in the south-east where I live.

My partner and I worked hard for 10 years and put every penny aside from our middle-class jobs to buy a £300,000 house five years ago - all earned and taxed.

The house was a wreck (no kitchen, no heating) and we have spent five years making it a home for our four children. Due to the vagaries of the property market it is now worth £800,000.

Lucky us? Since we are not married, if one of us dies the other will face IHT liability and this will force us to sell the family home.

Getting married to counter IHT is an option we find distasteful, and since we are not gay we cannot avoid IHT by registering for a civil union (thanks again, Tony Blair!).

An ever-increasing percentage of responsible parents decide not to get married.

If you are even marginally middle-class in the south-east, this will bring you up against IHT, threatening the welfare of children in the event of a parent's death.

I do not suggest scrapping IHT - in fact I support banding (like any good Guardian reader, I think we could do with another band on income tax as well). But I do think we are due for a re-think on IHT.

My family home is at risk and I feel offended at being roped in with "trustafarians" and the "idle rich".

Octavia Wiseman
Kennington, London

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