Andy Burnham’s cruel 10% ‘death tax’ plot is a slap in the face to hard-working Brits – PM should call an election now

WHEN people come to the end of their lives it’s not unreasonable they should expect to be able to leave a little something behind for their loved ones. They’ve worked hard, saved all their lives and paid the countless taxes which are nowadays due. Right now, inheritance tax hits only a small minority of deaths Credit: Getty Images The answer isn’t to punish those who have done the right thing all their lives Credit: AFP via Getty Images Having played by the rules and done the right thing, it’s only fair they should be able to provide for their children and grandchildren’s future. Andy Burnham clearly doesn’t think so. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The Prime Minister has previously expressed his support for a 10 per cent universal death tax on family assets in order to fund his plans for social care. Right now, inheritance tax hits only a small minority of deaths. Most families pass on modest homes and savings tax-free. But Burnham’s levy would drag another 650,000 hard-working families a year into paying death taxes when they die. Make no mistake, these are not billionaires with offshore accounts we’re talking about. These are retired teachers, nurses, small business owners and countless others whose biggest asset happens to be the family home. For millions of homeowners, particularly across the North and Midlands, their house isn’t a luxury investment. It’s the product of decades of hard work, overtime shifts, missed holidays and careful budgeting. Most read in The Sun It represents a lifetime of effort. The idea that politicians can simply help themselves to a bigger slice of the results of that effort because the Treasury has failed to get a grip on public spending is wrong on every level. Let me be clear, social care in this country needs reforming. Elderly people are stuck in hospital beds for weeks because there is nowhere safe for them to go. Families are being forced to sell the homes they spent a lifetime paying for just to keep a parent clean, fed and looked after. And I know many Sun readers will have painful experiences of this. But the answer isn’t to punish those who have done the right thing all their lives. Just think of the money the government wastes each year through inefficiency and downright incompetence. Yet rather than trying to tackle these failures, the government prefers to just reach for the chequebook. Your chequebook. It’s classic Labour. Well, I think I can safely say that the public have had enough of being told there’s no alternative except more tax. Working people already face one of the highest tax burdens in modern British history. Energy bills remain high. Food prices have squeezed household budgets. Mortgage costs have put home ownership under pressure for younger generations. Against that backdrop, proposing a new way to take money from people’s estates sends entirely the wrong message. It tells people that no matter how hard they work or how carefully they save, the state will always come back for more. Reform UK believes social care can and must be reformed. But it should be fixed through economic growth, better management and honest choices about public spending. Those are difficult reforms, for sure, but they are the kind of reforms governments should be expected to deliver. Voters have rejected a universal death tax multiple times. They rejected Burnham when he stood for Labour leader in 2010. They rejected the idea again when he stood in 2015. It cost Theresa May her majority in 2017. Why won’t politicians listen to the public and realise they don’t want their precious savings stolen from them on their death bed? If the Prime Minister wants to raid people’s life savings he should do the decent thing and call a general election.