This week's opinion

Inheritance tax is probably the most politically controversial of all the taxes. Almost everybody accepts the principle that there should be taxes on income and on goods but taxes on death provoke strong opinions. There are many who say ‘the taxman has had enough of my money while I am alive: why should he have any more after I’ve gone?’. But there are also those who are opposed to all inherited wealth and believe that taxing inheritances is a way to create a more equal society. Between these two extremes there is a wide range of views on how capital should be taxed and whether the tax should be levied only on death or should also or instead be charged on lifetime gifts. So the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) will have its work cut out to please everybody when it responds to the chancellor’s request for a review...