Context
Inheritance tax reforms have been promised since before the 2010 election, including promises to help middle-class individuals pass on more of their property to younger generations.
Question
When will we fulfill numerous promises made as long ago as before the 2010 election, by George Osborne, to help middle-class people pass on more of their property to the young? Can the Chancellor and Prime Minister focus less on high-spending lefties like President Roosevelt and more on good Conservatives like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher—less about subsidies and more about tax cuts and simplification?
Answer from Jesse Norman (Financial Secretary to the Treasury)
I hesitate to give my right hon. Friend a history lesson, but he will recall that Ronald Reagan was a deep admirer of FDR and quite a heavy spender in his own right. Inheritance tax is paid on only one in 25 estates, and therefore it is not quite as large an issue in terms of the number of people affected as my right hon. Friend suggests. We take these issues very seriously and return to them recurrently at fiscal events.
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