ABSTRACT
Accumulated wealth can be used in various ways to bolster the income and other resources of subsequent generations. In theory, the main instruments for restricting the perpetuation of unequal distributions of wealth over time are inheritance and gift taxes. In practice, they have been less radical than they might appear, partly because their role in raising substantial tax revenue usually has priority over egalitarian goals. The affluent typically make extensive use of financial planning to minimize wealth reduction for later generations of their own families. More recently, more modest middle-class households have benefitted from changes in British death duty that provide greater tax exemptions for family homes. Those who are not homeowners, mostly the least well off, have no such corresponding benefit. Since, for many, house ownership has become the principal form of investment for the former, a further inequality primarily along class lines has been introduced.
