Comments on: Well I never - government cuts Inheritance Tax!

By: apl

apl — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:24:10 +0000

Cliff:

By: Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:46:17 +0000

I think Paul’s right - so far as I can tell, there’s nothing here at all.

The question is, I’m afraid as usual, why did our state broadcaster not manage to figure it out? As it is, it looks as if the initial coverage was not merely uninformative, but actually factually wrong.

By: Seasurfer1

Seasurfer1 — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:50:01 +0000

John, am I right in saying that the sale of second homes, buy to let homes etc are now off the hook for a 40% capital gains charge. We could see individuals taking advantage of this 18% charge with a surge of property coming on to the market.
Is it a political stealth ploy to ease a potential house price fall, by easing the “buy to debt” syndrome. In my view the affect could be opposite with a flood of property coming on to the market with a massive fall in prices.
Reply: Yes, owners of second homes will also pay the 18% CGT rate.I am not sure the government is serious about wanting more affordable homes, as a fall in house prices would be uncomfortable for them politically.

By: Letters From A Tory

Letters From A Tory — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:37:49 +0000

Nice for Labour to admit that administration can be cut back. Scrapping stupid government targets would save far more, but it’s a start.

I take your point about reduced administration costs not damaging front line services, but surely that begs the question of why George Osborne committed himself to follow Gordon Brown’s spending plans for three years?

http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com

By: Brian Tomkinson

Brian Tomkinson — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:30:00 +0000

Now we know Brown’s vision for the country - steal Conservative policies, water them down and present them as your own! He just can’t get away from his obsession of treating the British public as fools, which was why he had that supercilious grin on his face when Darling made his speech. The history of Chancellor Brown was that when the details of these reports were examined they revealed a far less rosy picture than the headline grabbing announcements given in the report to the Commons. No doubt this one will be no different.
Today’s spectacle in the Commons was quite nauseating to behold and showed the contempt that Brown and Darling have for the British people. Far from being statesmen, they showed that they care only about cheap political chicanery.

By: Tony Makara

Tony Makara — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:23:42 +0000

“O theft most base, that we have stolen what we do fear to keep”

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

By: Cliff

Cliff — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:43:04 +0000

It is nice to see the Conservative Party driving the political agenda. Perhaps Mr Osbourne should have announced even more tax cutting policies at the conference as they more than likely would have been announced in parliament today by Mr Darling.

Message to Mr Cameron: See how traditional Conservative thinking can alter the party’s standing in the polls because traditional Conservative policies are popular with the electorate.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:37:54 +0000

Actually …. they haven’t.

It’s more smoke and mirrors. My understanding is that it’s a transfer of the current allowances between two married individuals.

Married couples could do this already, by gifting the other person part of the wealth subject to IHT.

If you had a house subject to IHT, as a couple, you could split the ownership between the two of you - then you would both get the