Yet another proposal to increase inheritance tax and also to charge capital gains to inheritances. Now, where have we heard this before?

OK, so Arun Advani and Andy Summers find themselves forced to publish their idea for an exit tax under a wild variety of different groupuscule names.

There’s the IFS report, Arun Advani and Andy Summers. There’s the Centre of the Analysis of Taxation report. That’s Andy Summers and Arun Advani. The LSE report? Andy Summers. The study of HMRC records? Andy Summers and Arun Advani. That 5% wealth tax idea? Arun Advani and Emma Chamberlain.

Now Demos:

Demos urged the chancellor to introduce a banded system for inheritance tax based on the value of assets and to close a loophole that allows households to pass on estates to their children without paying capital gains tax.

That report:

• Arun Advani, Associate Professor, University of Warwick

• Emma Chamberlain, Barrister at Pump Court Tax Chambers

How wonderful that they’re able to get the band back together.

We do tend to think that there’s no groundswell of intellectual opinion here. Rather, the same ideas being published by the same people under multiple fronts to give the appearance of that intellectual groundswell. Of course, it’s very mean of us to say so. But what if it is in fact true?

For some reason they think that 85% tax rates upon inheritance will increase long term patient investment in the British economy. We rather disagree with that of course. But if it were - or is - such a wondrously good idea there would be rather more people pushing it, wouldn’t there?

Tim Worstall