Will inheritance tax make or break the next election?
The Conservative party has come out fighting with regards to inheritance tax with a suggestion that 4 million people in the UK will be pulled into the so-called "death tax" phenomenon. It is believed that the average inheritance tax bill would be around £60,000 and would bring in a significant number of the so-called "middle England" area of the UK. This is an area of the UK population which was vital at the last Labour Party general election victory but one which is slowly swaying to the side of the Conservatives.
Amid signs that the next election could be fought on a class war, the Labour Party recently manoeuvred its way through yet another U-turn by effectively cancelling plans to increase the inheritance tax threshold - something which was originally announced last year after the Conservative party took a lead on this subject. However, the Labour Party is now looking for grassroots support and this means an effective increase in tax on the middle income and higher income earners in the UK, a move which many believe is potentially fraught with danger.
Slowly but surely we have seen a number of Conservative party policies released into the public domain and despite the expected criticism from opposition parties, Gordon Brown will be on the back foot in the early part of 2010. He may need to take extreme action to even hang on to the coattails of David Cameron.
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