Greens call for fairer inheritance tax

Published: 9 Oct 2007

Following Alistair Darling's first pre-budget report and  Comprehensive Spending Review as Chancellor, the Green Party today challenged the government on their unfair inheritance tax policies.

South West Green party spokesperson, Charles Graham said: "With a growing gulf between rich and poor in the UK, inheritance tax is crucial to ensuring we don't get trapped in a society where the poor stay poorer and the rich get richer.

"We believe the tax should be levied on the wealth of the recipient, rather than the donor - making it a far more just and progressive form of tax, and encouraging people to spread their wealth.

"The rich and super rich have thrived under the last ten years of Labour. The top 10 per cent now own more of the country's wealth than  they did in 1990 - in the region of 54 per cent. Yet, around only 5 per cent  of the country currently pay inheritance tax. (1)

Charles emphasised that: "With almost 13 million people living below the poverty line in the UK, and 1 in 3 children in the UK growing up in poverty, it's clear the government's priorities urgently need to change. (2)

"There’s great concern about inheritance tax because people care about their children.  But only the Green Party is addressing the things that will really matter for people’s children – fighting climate change, providing good quality local education for all and building strong effective communities."

Charles, commenting on other policy areas covered by the Comprehensive Spending Review, said: "Greens would increase long term health spending with an emphasis on preventative measures, at a greater level than Darling looks likely to set, because we would use funds gained from substantial defence cuts, especially Trident.

"We would also halt road building  - worth £30bn over 10 years - and introduce aviation taxes so that we could spend much much more on public transport and reduce VAT, a regressive tax that penalises poorer people.

"We also want to see restoration of the fuel tax escalator, balanced  by further VAT reductions and far greater expenditure on sustainable  technologies and free home insulation.

"The £5.6bn the government intend to spend on ID cards would, under a Green government, be spent on community policing instead.

"We’d increase overseas aid far more than the rather small Environmental Transformation Fund and raise the money from a tax on currency speculation - a Tobin tax.

"Greens would also spend more on education, but would be prepared to raise extra money if necessary through increased taxes, such as  corporation tax.

"And we’d introduce a bold programme of tax and welfare reform, based on a universal citizen’s income and pension, the abolition of most benefits other than disability benefits, and a new and more progressive system of income tax.

"Curbing our emissions must be at the very centre of a longer term  economic and taxation policy. The way we tax should seek to change  people's behaviour. We need radical changes in the way we run our  economy, the way we measure human welfare and how we produce and  consume goods and services."


(1)http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040802/ai_n12795664

(2) http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/why-end-child-poverty.html

(3) http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk