Conservatives pledge to cut inheritance tax
With the UK Labour Party taking a lead in opinion polls ahead of the May 7 general election, the Conservative Tories are now making more campaign promises.
The UK election campaign is heating up with polls showing the Labour party is now ahead by just one percent. The Tories who have for long been the party in the lead are now pulling out all the stops with their latest being a cut to inheritance tax.
The Conservative plan is to take the majority of family homes out of inheritance tax by bringing in new allowances raising the threshold to £1 million. At present, inheritance tax is paid at a rate of 40% of the value of any home above the £325,000 threshold.
22,000 families are expected to benefit from the changes by the year 2020, but critics argue money should be brought in from elsewhere to balance the books. Prime Minister David Cameron and the Conservatives say they will take £1 billion from the pension pot, from pensioners that earn more than £150,000.
Cameron is expected to say today, "We will take the family home out of inheritance tax. That home that you have worked and saved for belongs to you and your family. You should be able to pass it on to your children. And with the Conservatives, the tax man will not get his hands on it."
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is critical of this Conservative promise, saying it will only affect 10% of estates and that it is the wrong priority.
She believes, "They are talking about a £140,000 tax cut for properties that are worth around £2m at a time when you've got families still losing their homes because of the bedroom tax, at a time when pensioners and families have had to pay more VAT.”
The revelations come just a week before the Conservatives launch their election manifesto with their changes to inheritance tax set to be at the heart.
MW/GHN
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