No, UKIP are an easy target, because it really is full of fruitcakes, loonies and bogots. If they all didn't have Walter Mitty style personae, it wouldn't be so easy to use as a target.

Whereas the three main parties are full of sensible, decent, intelligent people with coherent and clear policies and a mandate from the people and who've never ever screwed up this country or ignored issues that needed to be democratically debated. Or in Labour's case, actively suppressed debate, leading to a so called 'protest' party being formed to give people some kind of a voice, however much it's sneered at and belittled. For bigots, you don't have to look too far away from the existing parties.

If it was the case that we still had council and affordable homes aplenty then I would say parents and or even family members leaving other realtives a house then that should be exempted but while the status quo exists, where the haves in housing are often trying to keep the have nots out from getting council homes/affordable homes by opposing them being built in the first place then I wouldn't agree to an excemption.

Like you said house prices are stupidly over priced and they need to come down. If the status quo on housing stays in place then whats to stop someone inheriting a house partly remortgage it or all of it and use it to becomea buy to let landlord and help push up prices even more? I met someone last year who was in that situation and was intending to do just that.

Remember the tax kicks in at 325 grand or so, so that a lot of people will escape the tax.

You do know the average semi in the suburbs, the kind millions of ordinary working people bought over many decades, are now being valued at approximately £200-250,000 or more? That isn't far off, and anything a little bigger is probably closer.
How nice of you to allow that family members might be allowed to inherit their parents' properties if conditions were right. Maybe they 'have', as you put it, because they sacrificed other material things so they could invest in a home, so let's screw more out of them when they die. Sorry, I don't like that sort of money-grabbing.

hHouse values have only gone up because the council houses were sold and not replaced and it created a false boom ever since, not because people sacrificed so much! We so can't and shouldn't do anything for those who were not given the chance to buy council or even rent a council house but we so should feel sorry for someone who has to pay some inheritance tax on an overpriced property?!?! Let the have nots pay top dollar for houses but the haves so can't be taxed?!

Those who bought council houses got given big discounts to buy those homes and most were either sold at a massive profit or have seen massive rises in value all because the council houses were not replaced and with views like your on this it makes me think even more the inhertitace tax should stay!

The bottom line is, if you recieve income or assetts from whoever and you yourself did not pay tax on it, expect the tax to go on! All this oh the children must so inherit and not get to pay anything and oh they can also inflate the house prices even more by using the inherited house as collateral to buy more homes, huh! Very one sided! But in my experiences the haves always are one sided on this!!!!

What has someone who's worked hard to save for and buy a house which is now valued at a stupid amount - which someone is willing to pay, or nothing would ever be bought or sold - got to do with council houses and you wanting to take the money off them in what looks like spite because others don"t have what they've worked to have? Do you think everyone should he housed be the state and not be allowed to buy their own property? With views like yours I'm glad you're not in charge of taxation on private assets or it'd be worse than it is now.

This is an LBC thread, not the usual IHT discussion where those who stand to inherit more than £325,000 dont want it, and those who dont want it kept.

Not sure what you mean, it's not personal, it's a general example of unfair taxation.

I'm not a fan of IHT, but I think it's a bit of a false assumption to think that everyone has worked hard for their money and their house. Surely many will have inherited it, at the new inflated value.

My own view is that IHT has a place, but that the threshold should be quite high.

Mind you, with the rising costs of means-tested end-of-life care, I guess there will be lots of people who are 'leaving' their estates to the council...

Its only "Unfair" if it affects you (& you fellow inheritors)...........so you remove, or reduce IHT, please explain what taxes you would raise to combat the shortfall.

@Talma: I already told you that house prices have only gone up to the levels they are now because the council homes where by and largely sold off and not replaced. Like Makeba 72 said, where is the evidence people saved up, worked hard for their house? A lot of people, about 1-2 Million did buy council houses very cheap and with big discounts and now most of these homes are in buy to let landlords hands and I bet a lot of the annual 25 BILLION housing benefit ends up with them too!

On top of that people normally go for a 25 year mortgage rather than slap down their savings.

What was JOB going on about that we couldn't ban foreign buyers who don't even live in the UK from buying houses here and then end up leaving them empty? He said it would be "anti foreigner" but if he's going to use that logic, that would mean we would have to scrap all non EU immigration laws and let anyone who wants to come here to come here as and when they like.

I think JOB knew that his position wasn't holding up ( and I stopped listning at 10.30) but like with most phone in presenters, I think they don't want to acknowledge when their stance has been shot down because they want to get through their phone in.

On another note, LBC needs to clamp down on presenters taking up the first 15 minutes of the hour going on about the subject they want people to phone in about and then have the 5 minute or so travel and adverts, only for the presenter to repeat themselves again and more and more after the 21 minute mark which often results in callers rushed before the half hour news!

I'm begining to think that its not worth it for people to call in because too many of them do not get enough time to make their point and or rebut an interuption properly.

I think JOB, Emma Barnet and Ian Collins are the worst in repeating themselves over and over again btw. Also Ian Collins is doing my head in with that noise he keeps on making! It sounds like his lips are on fire, like he's just eaten a whole bunch of chillies when he keeps on making that noise! If the rest of you haven't noticed it, keep an ear out for it, you should notice it.

UKIP don't have anything close to being a mandate from the people. Do you really believe that UKIP would be better at running the country? They don't have any policies at all, since Farage dumped their manifesto. What they did have was full of racist, bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic twaddle.


What paranoid nonsense.


Yes all parties have "bigots," but thankfully they are very few and far between. UKIP, on the other hand, seems to have a recruitment minimum of them. It seems to have a quota they must fulfil.

Any unused amount can then be passed on to a surviving spouse's estate, making it effectively seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds.

Because the gain is an income and as so, should be taxed.

It is a very fair tax; the beneficiaries are recieving an "income" from the estate and should be taxed on it, as if it were wages or interest on savings..

Nessun Dorma when you make stupid sweeping statements about members of UKIP
and their supposed lack of policies perhaps you should take the time to listen to Nigel Farage instead of being swept away by your own paranoia.

In fact we have had poor governance in this country for the last 40 years .Look at the
massive debt,declining educational standards,rip off foreign owned utilities.What sort of a government allows the country to be held to ransom over all important energy supply.
UKIP are not responsible for these situations.It is previous conservative,labour,and recently a good dash of the lib dems.

Not many loonys or fruitcakes there?No just corruption lies and illegal wars.No UKIP responsibility there either.

Just recently three prominent labour figures seem to have been apologists for the PIE
in the 70's allowing them to affiliate with the NCCL .Bring on the fruitcakes

Who said UKIP had a mandate for anything? Of course they havn't. Just that the other parties aren't exactly squeaky clean. You'd think they were afraid of UKIP the way they and their supporters go on about them so much.

When even the (unelected by the people) Labour Prime Minister described a member of the public as a bigot for a valid concern about the way the country was going you have to admit there are some deeply unpleasant people at the top already.

Well said!

I have listened to Farage. I recently attended a public meeting where he was the main speaker and I can assure you, he said absolutely nothing of substance whatsoever. When he was challenged on the facts, he had nothing to say, except that "facts" don't mean anything.

I am not sure if being called paranoid is weird irony, or just rank hypocrisy, seeing as UKIP's support is based on the paranoia of its membership.


And you really think that UKIP will be better at it?


What are UKIP's policies for these areas? Spend more and more money? Tax the poor even more? Turn employment rights back the ninteenth century?


I couldn't imagine UKIP taking responsibility for anything, seeing as they disown theirs when they get caught with their feet in their mouths. Take that Ealing councillor, Benjamin Dennehy, the one who blamed the flood victims' plight on their own stupidity. He was expelled from the Tories because he was too racist and UKIP welcomed him with open arms.


And this says more about your attitude to anyone who disagrees with your opinion than it does about the facts.

Your post was assuming that they did. By precluding the possiblity that the other main parties did not have a mandate, you were implying that UKIP did. One doesn't have to be "afraid" of a political party to expose their short comings, especially when they make it so easy.


As many UKIP suporters seem to be so unaware of how the British democratic system works, it really is very difficult to find a basis for proper debate on the subject of Gordon Brown's tenure as Prime misnister.

Clive Bull is currently discussing the ins and outs of this very subject as we speak.

I was pointing out that the amount of bile and scorn directed at a minority party doesn't change the fact the main parties are not perfect and many think them less than suitable for government. Also the amount of abuse directed at UKIP and their supporters by all the main parties indicates that those parties think they have to do that rather than ignore them, which they could if they thought they were totally inconsequential.

Gordon Brown bottled out of a general election so that the people could have their say over what was a handover of power between him and the previous incumbent, who actually won elections for his party. The Labour Party was entitled to change their leader but when they are in power the people should have the right to endorse their decision.

[quote=Talma;71518383]I was pointing out that the amount of bile and scorn directed at a minority party doesn't change the fact the main parties are not perfect and many think them less than suitable for government. Also the amount of abuse directed at UKIP and their supporters by all the main parties indicates that those parties think they have to do that rather than ignore them, which they could if they thought they were totally inconsequential.

Twaddle. If UKIP didn't provide so much ammunition in the first place, there wouldn't be many stories in the press about them. They continue to asrt that they are not a racist party,when so many of their members do racist things. Perhaps, if they actually admitted that hey were a racist party, they might get left alone.


Nonsense. It is up to the Labour party and the Labour party alone to choose their leader, just as it is for the Tories and any other political party. John Major also refused to call an election when he was appointed as Prime Minister.

Precisely. They're running scared of UKIP and view them as a serious threat. They are desperately holding out for the european elections when they can finally get a handle on what strategy they need to counter it.