Nadhim Zahawi sparks debate after calling for Sunak to scrap 'morally wrong' inheritance tax

Calls from senior Tories to scrap inheritance tax have been met with scepticism from economists and opposition MPs who accused them of"pushing ideas to benefit the wealthy".wrote an article in The Telegraph, calling it"morally wrong" and a"spectre that haunts us alongside death".

Paul Johnson, head of the independent economic think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies , tweeted:"Rather than scrapping IHT we urgently need to reform it."The very wealthy pay an average rate half, or less, that paid by the moderately wealthy. If all you leave is the family house it's hard to avoid. If you have millions it is absurdly easy to avoid."

Dan Neidle, the founder of the Tax Policy Associates think tank, said that abolishing it would mean losing that revenue"to benefit the wealthiest 4%".He said that the 40% rate"is one of the highest in the world" but a better solution to scrapping it would be to limit the exemptions and reduce the rate.

It added:"To give our children the best chance in future we need this government to focus on fixing our crumbling schools and hospitals - not giving a tax break to the wealthy."Inheritance tax has long been a divisive subject in the UK. Last year Chancellor Jeremy Hunt extended the freeze on this threshold to 2028 - a move experts said would result in thousands more families paying the levy.Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video playerMany Tories have been urging the government to cut taxes to spark economic growth and turn around the party's fortunes in the polls - but they are split on the issue of inheritance tax.

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