Badenoch expected to announce plan to cut inheritance tax and claim UK faces ‘battle of ideas’ over spending – UK politics live

Conservative leader will deliver her keynote speech to Tory conference later Inheritance Tax (IHT) s one of the most curious taxes in the Treasury’s armoury. It is one of the most unpopular of all taxes levied by HM Revenue and Customs, with polling showing strong support for getting rid of it entirely , even though most people never pay it. The explanation for this paradox is partly the visceral belief, widely shared, that parents should be able to pass on their assets to their children. (Another factor is that Inheritance Tax is also very unpopular with the sort of rich people who own newspapers, even though Kemi Badenoch claims they never have to pay .) Speaking about IHT on the Today prograamme this morning, Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, said: It’s a tax that is charged on estates when people die, but only around one in 20 estates will actually end up paying it. There is a fight coming in British politics. A fight that we have not seen in this country for more than half a century. Continue reading...