Why inheritance tax is an unjust burden - Times Online

Why inheritance tax is an unjust burden - Times Online: "The legality of inheritance tax is under challenge. Last week Joyce Burden, 89, and her sister, Sybil, 81, lodged a last-ditch appeal in Strasbourg over the rule that each will have to pay inheritance tax on the home they jointly own near Marlborough, Wiltshire, because they cannot have the same exemptions given to married or gay couples in civil partnerships. The move is just the latest challenge to a tax decried as hitting the moderately well off and punishing the thrifty. If you die worth £750,000 after repaying debts and leaving no spouse or civil partner, then at current rates, 40 per cent of an estate above £300,000 goes to the Treasury – namely £180,000."