Latest Breaking News Online News Portal
In today’s poll of more than 113,000 people on Twitter 72 percent of people said they were “against” the tax.
Amongst respondents aged 40 and over, 44 percent of people said they were “against inheritance tax”, compared with 16 percent in favour of it.
Among those under 40, 28 percent of those polled said they did not support the levy and 12 percent.
Mr Lewis tweeted: “Do you believe in the concept of inheritance tax?
“Forget the specifics/rate, but in general, is it more a valid equaliser worth doing as it raises fund [sic] while reducing perpetuated inequalities of inherited wealth, or an unfair tax on money already taxed?”
He then posted a follow-up poll, asking Twitter users how often inheritance tax is paid.
The consumer champion said: “I want to know what percentage of UK deaths in a year you’d think involved someone paying inheritance tax?”
More than 43,500 people replied to the second poll with the majority (almost two-thirds) saying they believed at least 10 percent of deaths resulted in an inheritance tax bill.
A fifth (18 percent) said they thought it affected more than half of all deaths and another fifth (19 percent) said they thought the percentage was 26pc to 50pc.
Just over a quarter (27 percent) voted for 10 percent to 25 percent.
READ MORE: Harry’s US visa challenged in court, as judge told drug answers should be shared
Daily Telegraph reports that 37 percent got the right answer, by guessing that the levy was paid in less than 10 percent of deaths.
Mr Lewis responded by quoting the latest official statistics which show that four percent of all UK deaths resulted in an inheritance tax charge in the 2019-2020 tax year.
This is up by 0.02 percentage points on the previous year.
He pointed out that this was the first time there had been an increase in this proportion since the 2016-2017 tax year.
But it is likely that thousands more families will be caught by the tax as the £325,000 threshold remains frozen.
The allowance has not risen since 2009 despite years of inflation and house price growth.
Twitter users commented on the impact it will have on their families.
Tom Talks Money wrote: “That money has already been taxed. I want to work hard & leave my kids something to be proud of.
“The Government has spent more than it earns in 39 out of the last 45 years!
“Maybe if they controlled their spending better we wouldn’t need to be taxed so much.”
And ForcesOfNatur3 responded: “Agree. The entire system desperately requires an overhaul.
“Raising taxes is an outdated and unsustainable way of raising revenue.”
WorldbyWolf commented: “Wow. Big swings against IT!
“Turns out people either want to inherit what their parents have or want to pass down what they have to their kids.
“Common sense really. Most people are against double taxation.”
HMRC collected £7.1billion from inheritance tax receipts last year as the £325,000 threshold has been frozen since 2010, meaning thousands more Britons are being affected by the 40 percent tax.
A group of 55 Conservative MPs have called upon Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to abolish inheritance tax (IHT). The Conservative Growth Group is due to publish a paper later this month with the hope of persuading the Treasury to scrap the levy.
