Responding to Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage’s comments yesterday (4 March) pledging that his party would abolish inheritance tax, James Ward, head of private client at law firm Kingsley Napley, said:
“Nigel Farage may think his promise to abolish IHT is a vote winner, with an increasing number of estates being hit by unreformed IHT thresholds. But he hasn’t said where he would expect to make up the £8.3bn shortfall in revenue to the Treasury that the OBR forecasts this tax will deliver this year 2024-5
“Interestingly our recent YouGov poll on IHT showed support for the idea of abolishing inheritance tax altogether actually fell last year versus the year before, probably because most people recognise the dire state of the public finances.
“Whilst it is a deeply unpopular tax that many would rather not pay, I imagine most are realistic that a complete abolition is unlikely to happen any time soon. In fact, a good result on IHT at the moment would probably be that Rachel Reeves doesn’t look to increase it in her Spring Statement given the huge pressure she is under to find cover for a rise in defence spending.”
