I am listening to a stupid article on the radio about “re-gifting” (the reason I don’t listen to radio 4 except when at the family home).

I am trying to read an article on another kind of regifting, IHT abolition. It’s the gift that  keeps on “re-gifting”.

“IHT to be ended by the election ” was a gift of the autumn budget that never was.

Now it is the gift of budgets yet to be. And no doubt , if the Chancellor looks to do so, he can regift in the Autumn Budget of 2024 and indeed the manifesto.

It It one thing to promise and another to deliver. The minor pension  tax change – the abolition of the lifetime allowance.

It’s easy to say you would reintroduce the Lifetime Allowance but a lot harder in practice! My thoughts here for @_moneymarketing https://t.co/Kj8PbITUkX

— Steve Webb (@stevewebb1) November 29, 2023

The reality is that it takes a lot of work to change a tax let alone abolish it so we should be very careful what we wish for.

If we want an end to death taxes, we must acknowledge that the capital transferred on death will find fresh tax liabilities for the beneficiaries. Nowhere is this more likely than with pensions – or should I say “retirement wealth”.

Ironically, death taxes – no matter how we re-package them – are always with us. The concept of “wealth cascading down the generations” is fine, but for most people, those who pay for cuts in inheritance tax will be those who have neither wealth nor  any easy means to pay the tax-burden they have today – or tomorrow.