Government’s new death tax is just a shameless rip-off
THE Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments is one of those obscure but vital parts of our constitution that Britain specialises in. A cross party committee of MPs, it scrutinises changes to the law that happen by executive order rather than as separate Acts of Parliament.
This week it turned its attention to an almost equally obscure field: probate law. It’s something few of us ever think about until we have to. But have to we all do at some point because when a close relative dies it’s after probate has been granted that we get hold of their estate.
It may have escaped your attention but Justice Secretary Liz Truss is engaged in one of the most shameless rip-offs ever attempted. Ms Truss has imposed an increase in the fee for obtaining probate. Nothing unusual there you might think. Such fees for those niggling services we all need to use every so often are always going up.
But try this for size: Ms Truss is increasing the fee by more than 9,000 per cent. You read that right. Under her new system the current flat rate charge of £215 will rise for some properties to £20,000. The new fees will raise £1.5billion over the next five years.
From next month the amount we pay for probate will be linked to the size of an estate. Those worth under £50,000 will not pay anything. According to the Government, this reflects a large increase in asset prices since it was last changed in 1999.
BUT for all other estates the rise will be huge, from a 40 per cent increase for the new £300 fee for estates worth up to £300,000 to a 9,202 per cent rise for the £20,000 fee for estates above £2million.
When the idea was first floated the Government ran a consultation. Just two per cent of respondents – mainly legal experts – supported such increases. Only eight per cent even supported the basic principle of moving from a fixed fee to payments that varied according to estate values.
Ms Truss has ignored the consultation. Given how overwhelmingly the plan was opposed, one has to wonder what purpose was served by it.