A record number of bereaved families will be stung by inheritance tax over the next five years unless the levy is scrapped, leading Tories have warned.
The number of families caught in the inheritance tax net will soar from 33,000 this year to a record-breaking 43,800 by 2028 to 2029 due to frozen thresholds and forecast house price rises.
Meanwhile, the average inheritance tax bill will climb from £207,200 to £211,400.
In total, 191,200 families will be hit by the levy over the five-year period, according to forecasts published by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
It comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure from his party to commit to slash the tax, or abolish it altogether, ahead of the general election next month.
Sir David Davis, who served as Tory chairman, said the figures demonstrated the “ridiculous” cost of the 40pc charge.
He said: “Inheritance tax was not designed to capture the middle classes – only the very rich. But today the exact opposite is happening, where middle-class families find themselves caught in a tax nightmare, while the extremely rich find ways of avoiding it.
“We need to help hard-working people in Britain hand down their wealth to their children. We should dramatically raise the allowances to prevent families paying a ridiculous amount in tax.”
Mr Davis has called for the tax-free allowances to be drastically increased to £5m while other senior Tories including Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary, have said the tax should be scrapped outright.
Last month Chancellor Jeremy Hunt described the levy as “profoundly anti-Conservative”.
Inheritance tax is charged at 40pc on the value of estates worth more than the £325,000 allowance, known as the nil-rate band.
This rises to £500,000 for homeowners giving their main residence to their descendants – or £1m for a couple.
The £325,000 allowance has been frozen since 2009 while the additional £175,000 allowance for homeowners is also frozen until 2028.
This is despite the fact that rising asset prices have pushed a growing number of households over these thresholds.
Property makes up the largest share of estates and between 2009 and 2022, house prices soared by 70pc.
Analysis by estate agents Hamptons has found that around 340,000 houses sold for more than £325,000 last year while nearly 155,000 sold for more than £500,000.
This compares to 2010 when only 134,000 homes were sold for over £325,000, and fewer than 50,000 for more than £500,000.
Shaun Moore, of wealth manager Quilter, said: “Over the next few years, it’s inevitable that the number of homeowners paying inheritance tax will further increase due to house price inflation unless the next government looks at increasing the various inheritance tax thresholds.”
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