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I disagree -- it is indeed inheriting massively, just because they were lucky enough to be born to someone who was able to buy a house, and watch its value appreciate, through no effort or his or theirs, and it is justifiably taxable, in my view. A wholly unearned capital gain, and taxing it...

Yes they will, but there's no sense in which they have a right to such a windfall, and if the government chose to tax it even more, further reducing their unearned windfall, I'd have no problem with that. What I cannot understand is why people think that someone has a right to inherit massively...

I'd have no problem with that

Nonsense - it's not a double tax on the person who dies (after all they can't pay tax when dead) -- the inheritance tax is paid by the person who inherits. That's like saying that my window cleaner's income (assuming he pays tax on it... and I have some reservations about that) is doubly taxed...

And spot on again. My kids will also face a hefty inheritance tax bill when I die (assuming that I haven't achieved my cunning plan to spend the lot...). However, that notwithstanding, as middle class kids from a professional family, with a good education and careers, they'll be pretty well off...

Spot on, in my view. Inheritance tax is one of the fairest taxes imaginable, and one which is one of the least distorting of economic incentives. No surprise that the Tories want it to wither away. This article, written a number of years ago, well captures some of the relevant arguments in...