Director @CenTaxUK and Professor @LSELaw. Trying to make tax understandable and help design a better tax system. Fellow @LSEInequalities and @TheIFS
London, UK
Joined July 2011
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Exempting family homes (only) from IHT is an oddly illiberal policy. It expresses a particular view of the good life: I should be living in my "family home" til I die. Why? What if I dont want to? (1/3)
Maybe I *want* to downsize to be closer to my kids, or I just *want* to buy a nice car or a boat. Or a smaller house and a holiday home.
This policy is saying: nope, you shouldn't live that way, you should be remaining steadfast in your "family home" til the very end. Why? (2/3)
Not taking a view on whether IHT should be higher or lower overall. But if you want an IHT cut, this is just about the worst way to do it. Perfectly calibrated to prevent downsizing and (further) gum up the housing market.
“Nobody will ever pay inheritance tax on their family home,” promises Kemi Badenoch
On top of that, couples will be able to leave an additional £1m tax free and there will also be no stamp duty when homes are bought, she adds
Follow live: bbc.in/4ATwqSu
Andy Summers retweeted
Several MPs raised questions on Tuesday with Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury @Dan4Barnet about potential adjustments to planned Inheritance Tax reforms, including a ‘Minimum Share Rule’, which we modelled in our recent report:
centax.org.uk/policy-brief-t…
Andy Summers retweeted
Important paper.
Our tax system is such a mess that there's broad agreement from the @ASI to the @NEF on how to make it fairer, simpler, and more efficient.
If Reeves did this at the Budget, she'd go down as one of our greatest Chancellors.
centax.org.uk/tax-reforms-fo…
Andy Summers retweeted
🚨 NEW🚨
We’re really excited to launch ‘Tax Reforms for Growth’ today along with experts from across the political spectrum.
Consensus on tax policy is rare, but we have a joint plan for fair, pro-growth tax reform in the UK🧵
centax.org.uk/tax-reforms-fo…
Andy Summers retweeted
Everyone's talking about tax rises - but what about tax fixes? In a pretty unusual intervention, @CPSThinkTank has teamed up with @CenTaxUK, @ASI, @IPPR, @NEF, @jrf_uk, @WeAreBrightBlue, @LabourTogether & @DanNeidle to argue for sweeping, pro-growth tax reform & simplification.
Andy Summers retweeted
'Can we design a tax system which taxes wealth and capital fairly and is pro-growth?' with @CIOTNews
🕐 1pm, today (Monday)
📍Exchange 10, Manchester Central
👉 @johnbarnettcta
👉 @JohnGlenUK
👉 @Summers_AD
👉 Chair: Nichola Ross Martin
Andy Summers retweeted
Join us Monday at 1pm for our CIOT/@CenTaxUK #CPC25 debate:
Can we design a tax system which taxes wealth and capital fairly and is pro-growth?
With @JohnGlenUK, @Summers_AD, @johnbarnettcta and Nichola Ross Martin
Exchange 10, Manchester Central (conf pass needed). Buffet lunch
Andy Summers retweeted
💼 Join us now at #Lab25 | How can we fund public services?
09:00-10:15 | Education Area 3, Museum of Liverpool / youtube.com/live/3Lb22MihhjU…
👉 @Dan4Barnet
👉 @YuanfenYang
👉 Heather Stewart
👉 @Summers_AD
This was also broadly the conclusion of Wealth Tax Commission (ukwealth.tax).
BUT last part is important: government should be doing serious reform of existing taxes on wealth. E.g. our proposal to raise >£10bil from CGT...(not just ⬆️ rates!) centax.org.uk/reforming-the-…
We worked on a similar proposal with @TheIFS before the last Budget, published here: ifs.org.uk/publications/capi…
Last October, government nudged the rate up to 24% but left all the other problems untouched. CGT needs major reform, not just tinkering.
Andy Summers retweeted
Frankly outrageous from the govt. This new, and I think unprecedented, ban on civil servants speaking in public will damage public debate, politics, policy making and the civil service itself.
What are they thinking?
instituteforgovernment.org.u…
Switzerland currently raises 1% of GDP from its wealth tax, equivalent to a bit over £500m per week for UK. (But doesn't have CGT or full IHT)
All this and more covered in the evidence papers of the Wealth Tax Commission (wealthandpolicy.com), available for anyone to read.
Your figure is shear fantasy. Show me anywhere in the world that’s had a wealth tax — plenty of examples — that has raised anything like £460m per week. You’re just making stuff up. And even if you got a fair whack in year one (tho nothing like your figures) you’d get peanuts by year 2/3 — because the wealthy would have scarpered. Also, even if you could magically conjure up all that extra money you’d waste it — as so much of the £1 trillion+ the government already spends is wasted by politicians who’ve never run anything.
About those 10,800 millionaires who left the UK... it's based on fewer than 100 people, who changed location on LinkedIn... not a serious study.
@timharford.bsky.social already debunked these stats ages ago. Why are they still being reported as fact?
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00230…
Non-doms are now within IHT regime and will be looking to limit their exposure. Without any cap on AR, this surely involves buying up an absolute tonne of farmland...also not good for real farmers. They will still do this to some extent, as relief at 50% is better than nothing.
If the farmer who phoned in to #bbclaurak is facing an Inheritance Tax bill of £1m under new rules, she must have a farm worth about £8million. According to HMRC's stats, this would make it one of the 20 most valuable farms facing IHT each year. Might've been useful context for the show!
Finally, big credit to @RachelReevesMP for going on #bbclaurak the Sunday *after* the Budget so she can take proper questions, unlike previous Chancellors who've gone on the week before when they can't actually say anything, which was a total waste of everyone's time. Hope she will stick to this!
For anyone who wants workings for the £8m / top20 stat: to get £1m IHT you need farmland worth £5m @20%. That's on top of £3m (effectively) tax free for a couple. HMRC stats show only 37 estates with claim for Agricultural Relief >£5m, with half of those below £6.4m. So £8m is comfortably top 20.