Source: http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/vie ... -death-tax
Friday February 12,2010
By Daily Express Reporter
MILLIONS of people could lose almost every penny of their assets under a new “death tax” being considered by Labour to fund care for the elderly.
And poorer people would lose out the most, leaving their children with next to nothing to inherit, analysis showed yesterday.
In some cases the new levy could be as high as 100 per cent.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham confirmed this week he is considering a compulsory inheritance tax of between £17,000 and £20,000 per person on everyone above a certain means threshold to fund free social care for all in old age.
Mr Burnham insists he has not decided what to do but remarks suggest he is most drawn to the idea of a compulsory levy. And Gordon Brown this week declined to rule out the charge.
Conservatives produced analysis of how a £20,000 levy would affect households, based on official wealth data. It assumed that the poorest fifth of households would not be required to pay and that pension income would be excluded.
But a £20,000 levy would represent an average 98 per cent of the total wealth of about 4.3 million adults, and 100 per cent for some.
Another 4.3 million would see 45 per cent of their total assets eaten up by the new tax. And a further 4.3 million would be handing over more than 27 per cent.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: “We thought that 98 per cent tax rates were a relic of the 1970s yet it seems that Labour could be planning to bring them back.”
