Clause 4
Finance Bill
6:00 pm
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West, Labour)
It is a pleasure to serve under you again, Mr. Gale.
I have to say to the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet that, if that was an abridged version of her speech, it was rather like reading a version of “War and Peace” in which the only abridgement has been to get rid of all the excess names and titles. On inheritance tax, I understand why the Conservatives will not put forward any figures at the moment. Their only slim chance of getting into office in 2009-10 will be if public finances are poor. In those circumstances, were the electorate misguidedly to put them into office, they would be able to do nothing about inheritance tax, so she is at least being honest.
It always interests and saddens me that the Conservative position on inheritance tax is basically a defence of the rich and scaremongering. For almost everybody who pays inheritance tax and who is not very rich, it is a tax based on a windfall gain due to the increase in the value of property. In most cases, that occurs not because of any action taken by the individual but because the market has risen. Secondly, it is paid only on death, so in almost every case except that of the super-rich, it is a tax on a windfall gain that is paid on death, which seems to me a reasonable tax.