Subscribe now: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | ACAST | Stitcher | YouTube | Google Podcasts | RSS
Inheritance tax is arguably the UK’s most unpopular tax - a recent YouGov poll found that just 20% of people deemed inheritance tax ‘fair’. Yet most people are unaffected by it - only a minority of estates currently pay inheritance tax.
In this episode, Paul Johnson is joined by Arun Advani and David Sturrock to discuss the intricacies of inheritance tax. They cover the inequality inherent in the current system, the distortion of economic incentives resulting from exemptions, the small percentage of estates that actually pay the tax, and how it affects to social mobility.
Zooming In: discussion questions
Every week, we share a set of questions designed for A Level economics students to discuss, written by teacher Will Haines.
1. How is inheritance tax structured?
2. Why do only 4% of deaths involve paying inheritance tax?
3. Evaluate the case for abolishing inheritance tax.
2. Why do only 4% of deaths involve paying inheritance tax?
3. Evaluate the case for abolishing inheritance tax.
Host
Paul Johnson
Paul has been the Director of the IFS since 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London.
Participants
Arun Advani
Arun is a Research Fellow at IFS, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and a Commissioner at the Wealth Tax Commission.
David Sturrock
David’s research covers household wealth, intergenerational transfers, social mobility, pensions taxation, and health and work at older ages.
More from IFS
Understand this issue
Policy analysis
Academic research
