Property News · May 9, 2018

Millennials need a fairer society, not a £10k handout | Letters


Readers respond to the Resolution Foundation’s proposal to give £10,000 to 25-year-olds in a bid to reduce intergenerational inequalityThe Resolution Foundation’s recommendation to give £10,000 to all young people when they turn 25 (Report, 8 May), irrespective of income, may make a small contribution to reducing generational inequalities, but it is also highly likely to increase inequality. For those young people who are already well off, it will provide additional family capital, by potentially reducing the dependence on “the bank of mum and dad” for funding accommodation and educational and business opportunities, but at the same time increase inequalities between better-off and poorer parents. Surely a simpler and more equitable policy to meet the changing income, housing, health and social care needs of different generations would be to introduce a single progressive system of income tax which incorporates inheritance tax and replaces national insurance, which overall has a regressive impact.Prof Mike SteinUniversity Of York• It is proposed that the “citizen’s inheritance” be funded by a change in tax law such that all gifts and inheritances up to £500k attract a 20% charge and any above £500k, 30%. The current regime levies nothing on in-life gifts (provided the giver lives for seven years more), nothing on estates valued at less than £1m and 40% thereafter. The Resolution Foundation’s ostensible benevolence towards millennials is misguided in its proposed approach, given that it would move the tax burden away from the richest in society and back towards the masses, irrespective of age. A cynic might even consider the CBI’s stake in this plan to be indicative of positive intent in this aim.Richard WayreAshford, Kent Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Millennials need a fairer society, not a £10k handout | Letters

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