Why are death taxes so exorbitant in the United Kingdom?
Death taxes, or rather “Death Duties” were introduced to the UK as early as 1796 and were extremely effective in causing the nobility and most likely the gentry as well to lose their massive estates as late as 1894 to the present-time. As Wikipedia explains further about death taxes, which are also called inheritance taxes: “In the United Kingdom, Death Duty was first introduced as a tax on estates in England and Wales over a certain value from 1796, then called legacy, succession and estate duties. The value changed over time and the scope of estate duty was extended. By 1857 estates worth over 20 were taxable but duty was rarely collected on estates valued under 1500. Death duties were introduced in 1894, and for the next century were particularly effective in destroying large estates. Estate duty was replaced in 1975 by Capital Transfer Tax, which was replaced by Inheritance Tax (IHT) in 1986. Partly due to the simple and widely-used methods which are available to avoid it, Inherita
