YouGov poll ahead of October Budget shows over half of the British public want complete abolition of IHT
Amidst speculation that Kemi Badenoch may include the abolition of inheritance tax amongst her pledges at the Tory party conference this week, A YouGov poll* commissioned by law firm Kingsley Napley shows 56% – over half of the British public – now want a complete abolition of inheritance tax (IHT), compared to 54% in last year’s poll and 49% 2 years ago.
However there has been a slight drop in opposition to an increase in the current 40% rate at which IHT is levied. 71% now oppose this idea in contrast to 76% of the British public surveyed last year.
There has also been stagnating support for raising the £325k threshold at which IHT must be paid. A majority – 65% of those polled – still supported this compared to the 67% last year.
A further finding is that there has been little change year on year in plans to take professional advice to reduce a potential inheritance tax liability, despite the fact that ever more estates are falling within the net. 78% have either not considered (73%) or decided against (5%) doing so and only 15% of those polled had either done so (5%) or intended (10%) to do so (compared to 76% and 16% respectively last year).
The research comes just weeks ahead of John Healey’s Autumn Budget with talk that IHT related changes may be on his list in order to help fund the government’s new social care and defence ambitions. Although some are calling for the chancellor to reverse his predecessor’s measures on business property relief (BPR) and agricultural property relief (APR) targeting family firms, other revenue raising options on the table include a gift cap and/or changes to the tapering rules on gift allowances or the removal of the primary residence nil rate band exemption. It has also been rumoured that the chancellor may introduce a flat 10% social care levy on all estates on death or look to scrap IHT altogether in favour of a more progressive wealth, property or land tax.
James Ward, partner and head of private client at Kingsley Napley, says: “There has been some political posturing on IHT in recent weeks given the unpopularity of this tax. Let’s see what the Conservatives say at Conference. However, personally I doubt Healey will go there on full abolition. He may introduce a few tweaks but I’m not convinced this government is yet ready on replacement ideas for this tax. Most likely his focus will be in other areas.”
“Whilst a majority want to scrap this tax, I always say be careful what you wish for,“ James continues. “Inheritance tax is effectively this country’s wealth tax. Currently only 1 in 20 estates pay it and yes, it is viewed by many as a double tax on death after already paying dues in life. But given the pressure on state finances, the revenues would need to be found elsewhere and any alternative measures could be far more onerous, such as a yearly wealth tax.”
James adds: “The other thing about the ‘devil-you-know’ is that it is possible to plan around the tax and reduce the effective rate of tax on your estate over time. Burnham’s ascension to PM this summer has caused many to revisit their estate planning and seize opportunities to gift out of excess income, set-up trusts or seek to benefit from potentially except transfers whilst there is still a window to do so.”
“We urge any in the 78% procrastinating or burying their hand in the sand on this to take advice on how to ensure their estate is tax efficient.”
The full data of the Kingsley Napley sponsored YouGov poll results from September 2026 can be viewed here: https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/YouGov-IHT-Survey-Results-2026.pdf
Links to comparison data from when the same questions were asked in September 2025/2024/2023 and October 2022 are below.