24/09/04 Cllr Tomlinson Supports Action On Inheritance Tax

Inheritance Tax

• Thousands of hard-working families are now being hit by inheritance tax thanks to Labour’s failure to raise the threshold of £263,000.
• 1.5 million council houses were purchased under the ‘right to buy’ scheme of the last Conservative Government – many are now falling into the inheritance tax trap.  A quick search of a property website will find many local authority or ex-local authority homes worth more than £263,000. 
• In 1997, just one town – Gerrards Cross – had an average house price higher than the inheritance tax threshold.  There are now 86 towns where the average house price exceeds the threshold.
• Over the past two years, a million extra houses have become potentially liable to inheritance tax. 
• Nearly 6 million people could be living in houses potentially liable to inheritance tax, as nearly 10 per cent of houses in the UK are now worth more than the inheritance tax threshold.
• If this trend continues, there will be over five million houses worth more than the inheritance tax threshold by 2010.