Dr. Karina Doorley:

I will add some extra evidence, which may be slightly unrelated to the issues of equity and so on, to add to the debate.

Inheritances reduce labour supply. Somebody who receives or is expecting to receive an inheritance works less than a similar person who does not receive an inheritance or is not expecting one. Apart from the arguments around equity and equality of opportunity starting off in life, there is also the distortion that an inheritance or this expected windfall brings into somebody's labour supply decision. One could question whether allowing that to continue without taxing this externality is a good way to proceed in that it may stifle innovation, labour supply, economic growth, etc.