[Finance] Rachel Reeves to reveal £20bn shortfall left by Conservative Government

[The Clamp]

Reeves is expected to make it explicit that she believes her predecessor deliberately did not act to address the looming spending shortfall. “Jeremy Hunt is going to have a lot of explaining to do,” said one source.

Rachel Reeves expected to reveal £20bn shortfall in public finances

Chancellor may raise some taxes in the autumn due to what Labour describes as its ‘shocking inheritance’ from Tories

www.theguardian.com

No he isn’t. He won’t be held to account.

 

[BLOCK F]

Just tax the dead, why should people receive hundreds of thousands of unearned wealth tax free? They didn't earn it...

Time to remove the ridiculously generous exemption on the family home.

Probably not as much as I hate greedy, arrogant capitalists

Well, why not just call it a score draw?
‘Your lot are worse than my lot.’
‘Oh no they aren’t, your lot are worse than my lot.’ ……etc.etc.

P.S. Not sure why Nicko31 post is on here, may be my fat finger!

 

[BLOCK F]

Since it was four years ago shouldn’t the Tories have put up taxes even more to pay off the debt within the term of the Parliament?

Surely we’d have all understood?

Seriously?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Seriously?

Not 100% obviously.

But considering we had years of austerity to pay off “another government’s debt” the current position is somewhat ironic, no?

 

[BLOCK F]

Well, I'm about to pay some IHT, and will find out how much in a few months -- it won't be huge -- but am about to receive a far larger pile of cash, and will no longer be living month-to-month as I have been throughout my working life. My parents grew up in the war, but they benefited from decades of peace thereafter, huge upward mobility and an economy that worked for all until the 1970s, and then house price inflation thereafter. My partner and I have worked far harder for less and less security than my parents did.
I'm hoping Reeves closes loopholes with IHT in her first budget as they're pretty transparent. One is the widely discussed one regarding agricultural land which is being exploited. Another is investing in start-ups which is exempt. And here's another that are being promoted by accountants based in tax havens:

Super-rich being advised how to avoid Labour tax clampdown, undercover investigation suggests

Revealed: Wealthy being pitched offshore products said to shelter fortunes from inheritance tax and capital gains tax

www.theguardian.com

Sorry, didn’t mean to quote this. Fat finger again and I haven’t even had a drink!

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Since it was four years ago shouldn’t the Tories have put up taxes even more to pay off the debt within the term of the Parliament?

Surely we’d have all understood?

No chance that was happening , too many thought it was all free and didn't need to be paid back, then you have those that didn't get furlough/support saying why should they pay it back

As with most things, booted down the road for a later date.

 

[A mex eyecan]

Quite hard to 'penalise' someone who has died.

Those inheriting probably haven't done the scrimping and saving.

but the ones who have died may well have scrimped and scraped so that they could leave something to help their children not have to?..

In living that way they probably never had the need to claim any benefits during their lifetime and contributed to the ‘social pot’ to the benefit of many who may well have played the system?..

 

[Bodian]

but the ones who have died may well have scrimped and scraped so that they could leave something to help their children not have to?..

In living that way they probably never had the need to claim any benefits during their lifetime and contributed to the ‘social pot’ to the benefit of many who may well have played the system?..

Yes - but I was responding to the specific comment that the person who had died was being penalised. You can't penalise someone who isn't there!

 

[WATFORD zero]

but the ones who have died may well have scrimped and scraped so that they could leave something to help their children not have to?..

In living that way they probably never had the need to claim any benefits during their lifetime and contributed to the ‘social pot’ to the benefit of many who may well have played the system?..

As has been pointed out numerous times now, of the 4% who's offspring will actually pay inheritance tax, what percentage do you think scrimped and saved to get the £1M during their working life and what percentage do you think inherited a significant proportion (if not all) of it

 

[Weststander]

As has been pointed out numerous times now, of the 4% who's offspring will actually pay inheritance tax, what percentage do you think scrimped and saved to get the £1M during their working life and what percentage do you think inherited a significant proportion (if not all) of it

Genuine question. Aren’t the rich the clever ones with expensive advisers who engineer little IHT, decades ahead?

With those with estates in the range £1m upwards, caught by it? [Not saying that’s a bad thing].

 

[WATFORD zero]

Genuine question. Aren’t the rich the clever ones with expensive advisers who engineer little IHT, decades ahead?

With those with estates in the range £1m upwards, caught by it? [Not saying that’s a bad thing].

There's certainly an aspect of the rich avoiding IHT through planning, (I would guess most IHT collected will be in the £1M to £3M bracket and it would be interesting to see the figures) but, as discussed earlier Tax avoidance/evasion is a very grey area which successive Governments never really address.

However this 'scrimping and saving' line to amass £1M of assets in your working career and become subject to IHT I believe tends to be overplayed constantly, often by people in the 96% who won't be affected in any way but have been convinced by certain groups that they will be

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

but the ones who have died may well have scrimped and scraped so that they could leave something to help their children not have to?..

In living that way they probably never had the need to claim any benefits during their lifetime and contributed to the ‘social pot’ to the benefit of many who may well have played the system?..

If you have earned it, and paid tax on it as you earned it, why can't you gift what's left to your wife? Or your kids? When you die, or before. Taxing the gift is wrong. I say that as a Labour party member.

 

[beorhthelm]

it looks like this shortfall may actually be the gap between what Labour would like to spend and what's in the current budget. a larger public sector pay rise than expected, along with what they say should be spent on services that isn't in the budget. quite clever really.

 

[Nobby]

We’re all up shit creek….say goodbye to your pension pot or hard earned inheritance owed by boomer parents who worked and paid taxes for 40 years.
Its called shared ownership now BTW.
Stand by

Why. What are you going to do?

 

[S.T.U cgull]

Genuine question. Aren’t the rich the clever ones with expensive advisers who engineer little IHT, decades ahead?

With those with estates in the range £1m upwards, caught by it? [Not saying that’s a bad thing].

Save for unexpected early death and/or holding onto assets for too long - most wealthy navigate away from paying any excessive IHT sum through downsizing property, then gifting of their assets (in particular accumulated equity), placing other taxable assets into structures and using insurance policies to cover any potential residual tax bill.

 

[Weststander]

it looks like this shortfall may actually be the gap between what Labour would like to spend and what's in the current budget. a larger public sector pay rise than expected, along with what they say should be spent on services that isn't in the budget. quite clever really.

Obvious weeks ago imho and planned long before the GE.

Tax rises including CGT and IHT to pay for stuff like settling the doctors dispute, keep teachers/nurses onboard, tackle poverty.

 

[Weststander]

Save for unexpected early death and/or holding onto assets for too long - most wealthy navigate away from paying any excessive IHT sum through downsizing property, then gifting of their assets (in particular accumulated equity), placing other taxable assets into structures and using insurance policies to cover any potential residual tax bill.

PET’s made decades before likely death from what I’ve seen, including family company shareholdings.

 

[peterward]

Reeves is expected to make it explicit that she believes her predecessor deliberately did not act to address the looming spending shortfall. “Jeremy Hunt is going to have a lot of explaining to do,” said one source.

Rachel Reeves expected to reveal £20bn shortfall in public finances

Chancellor may raise some taxes in the autumn due to what Labour describes as its ‘shocking inheritance’ from Tories

www.theguardian.com

Bollocks.

Talking down the economy and trying to invent a bleaker narrative is one of the oldest tricks in the book when you're about to raise taxes!

The OBR gives the opposition (then Labour) all of the previous governments spending, debt and financial info ahead of them being elected. It's totally transparent these days, Labout had all of "the books" before they stepped foot in downing street, pretending there's some hidden 20B black holes the OBR reports didn't show is just trying to con the general public, to paint a narrative to justify what they're planning to do in the the budget and to seek to shift the blame for it.

Imho of course.

 

[Rdodge30]

As has been pointed out numerous times now, of the 4% who's offspring will actually pay inheritance tax, what percentage do you think scrimped and saved to get the £1M during their working life and what percentage do you think inherited a significant proportion (if not all) of it

Don’t know about percentages but according to The Guardian there are 69,000 self made millionaires in the UK and I honestly think that there couldn’t be that many from old money? Just an entrenched view that it’s the Lords and Dukes - in modern times it’s the grafters that earn the money

 

[Greenbag50]

I’d be very surprised if people start paying IHT on this sort of sum.

View attachment 186076

If thresholds come down…my aver.

Your story is similar to mine. But I did go to University in the early days of Thatcher’s Britain. As a 5 O Level, state educated, non sixth form kid my background was very different to most.

What I grasped is always question everything, and that aspiration is very different to entitlement.

People defend entitlement with their last breath and the greatest entitlement is inheritance.

It’s not entitled for my children to expect what your parents worked for, (me as parent in this example), to be left to you without being taxed.
The reason we work is to leave our children with the benefits of what we have worked for all our lives.
So they can have a better start in life than I experienced.
It’s called aspiration and wanting your children to have what you didn’t have. To provide for them in a way you weren’t provided for.