Labour has sold itself to British voters as the party of wealth creation and growth. And now we know why.
To Labour, more household wealth means more money to tax. The party believes that your personal wealth – no matter how it was earned – is fair game.
In a leaked recording, a shadow frontbencher said he expected the “political consensus” to be that inheritance tax should be used to address “intergenerational inequality”. Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, told a public meeting that the death duty was a way to “redistribute” wealth.
The public’s political lethargy and resentment following years of disappointing Conservative rule has now left Britain vulnerable to exactly this sort of socialism. And with a large majority, Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves will consider themselves to have a mandate to tax how and what they see fit.
An inheritance tax raid under Labour is a very real threat and would be an unforgivable abuse of power.
Telegraph Money has campaigned to abolish inheritance tax simply because it now hurts all the wrong people while the super-rich negotiate their way around it with ease. Thanks to a deep freeze on tax allowances under the Tories, more and more middle class families are being hit by inheritance tax at 40pc.
Over the next Parliament, the number of estates forced to pay it is forecast to rise by 50pc.
Much of this is down to the house price boom, but the death tax takes no consideration of how that property was paid for or how much mortgage interest was paid. Inheritance tax is a lazy assault on family wealth.
Politicians should consider your money as just that – your money. They have no right to “redistribute” wealth. Yet Labour believes it is entitled to grab hold of it and fritter it away on the wasteful public sector.
Taxes on wealth always backfire. Raids on riches will drive top taxpayers out of Britain and kill off any hope of growth.
Sir Keir will inherit a recovering economy and a tax burden that has not been higher for more than 70 years. There is really no excuse for radical tax reforms and attacks on wealth.
Labour’s conspiracy of silence when challenged over tax rises is a loud clue that anything is possible. But there is hope. Labour has sensibly backtracked on plans to reinstate the tax-free lifetime allowance on pension savings.
The party now needs to ensure it consults on its ill-judged plan to add VAT to private school fees. If it listens properly, there’s a good chance this spiteful policy will also be dropped.
If Labour is granted the luxury of a landslide, Sir Keir must use that power responsibly. A death tax raid would be a terrible abuse of that power and the faith of British voters.
Otherwise, those who clamoured for change will soon find out that it could cost them dearly.
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