Is Labour going to introduce a death tax?

Tom Pullar-Strecker writes:

There are a couple of pieces of evidence to suggest may Labour may want to go to the next election proposing an inheritance tax.

The first is the Government’s decision to allocate $5 million over two years to Inland Revenue in the Budget to assessthe income and wealth of high-wealth individuals.

An IR spokeswoman confirms that work should shed light on issues including the amount of inherited wealth.

If the Government is going to consider an inheritance tax, commissioning such research was probably going to be a necessary first step. …

So did Parker order IR’s wealth and income study in the expectation that it might help inform a discussion on an inheritance tax?

Parker says “no’.

National’s Willis is unconvinced.

“I just don’t accept the idea that you would be doing that research with no view to changing policy,” she says.

“My suspicion is the minister is trying to create an evidence base for new taxes that Labour may to campaign on.”

If Labour wants to go to an election campaigning on taxing people because they died, then bring it on. Running a campaign against a death tax would be great fun.