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Finance Bill

Today, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives are speaking out together on inheritance tax. That must be an event almost as momentous as London’s success in winning the Olympic bid. As a former London mayoral candidate, I welcome that success on my party’s behalf. The new clauses address a matter that exercises us very much. The Bill breaks a principle, referred to in the past by my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, West (Stephen Williams), that the Revenue should not go on fishing expeditions and seek information by intrusive means that does not apply directly to its ability to levy tax. The new clauses would remove the information requirement in relation to people who the Government do not believe should be subject to inheritance tax. The Bill would require them to fill out extensive forms at a time of great bereavement to prove that no tax should be paid. The Revenue’s fishing expedition will expose almost no evidence of tax avoidance. The Chancellor has spoken with great pride on many occasions that only about 6 per cent. of the estates left after people die in this country are liable to inheritance tax. The vast majority are not liable, and I am sure that all parties share common cause that that should remain the case. The intrusive search for detailed information required by the Bill is therefore unacceptable. The concept of ““excepted estates”” applies to estates worth £275,000 or less, or to transfers to a spouse. That should be the appropriate benchmark, and we therefore associate ourselves with the new clauses.