Inheritance tax is the tax that everyone hates but nobody pays. Or at least that’s what everyone used to say. But with the inheritance tax take set to double by 2030, raking in roughly the same amount as stamp duty does now, it’s a phrase that rings more hollow with every day that goes by.

The Office of Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast for inheritance tax paints a bleak picture. It said it raised £8.3 billion for the Treasury’s coffers in 2024-25. This is set to increase to £11.7 billion in 2027-28 and by 2030-31 it will be nearly twice as high as last year (which was itself a record high), raising an astonishing £14.5 billion. If we needed proof that the government’s inheritance tax grab is no longer just affecting the very wealthiest, this is certainly it.

Rachel Reeves announced that the inheritance tax threshold has been extended for yet another year — to April 2031. The allowance has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009, meaning that when we reach the end of the freeze it will have remained at the same level for 22 years. Considering that house prices have been booming and inflation has been soaring, there is no wonder so many more people have been caught out.

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And while the residential nil-rate band was introduced in 2017, giving an extra £175,000 allowance (on estates worth up to £2 million) if a main home is passed to a direct descendant, such as a child or grandchild, it has not been enough to shield more families from falling into the inheritance tax trap.

If the inheritance tax threshold had risen in line with inflation, it would sit at more than £523,500, while the residence nil-rate band would have risen to £236,000.

Fiscal drag has been used to such an extent that a tax that once only affected the wealthiest is now a 40 per cent bill that most middle-class families will have to contend with.

In 2009 some 3 per cent of estates paid inheritance tax — by 2030 it is expected to be 10 per cent. The number of estates liable for inheritance tax will rise to 63,100 in 2029-30, almost double the 32,200 forecast to pay this year. And many more are likely to fall into the net unless the threshold is increased.

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To make matters worse, from April 2027 pensions will be brought into estates for inheritance tax purposes, making escape even less likely (although thankfully pensions left to a spouse or civil partner will stay exempt).

“So what?” you might think. Let’s not forget that most of those paying inheritance tax are not chief executives earning millions each year, successful business owners or rich investors — but they are all grieving family members. Brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren who might be relying on their inheritance, perhaps to pay off their mortgages, go to university or to be able to afford to start a family. Yet if you own a house and have a half-decent pension, your nearest and dearest are likely to have to pay 40 per cent tax on it, a bill they will not have expected.

Inheritance tax has always been Britain’s most-hated tax, even though it’s only affected the very few — soon it’s about to cause us a lot more grief.