Petition · past parliament
Stop the super-rich avoiding tax: set a £40 million cap on money put into trusts
Closed
137 signatures
What the petition asks
The super-rich can put limitless assets into trusts so that their beneficiaries pay only a fraction of the taxes they would otherwise owe. We've seen this recently with the 7th Duke of Westminster, who will avoid paying £3.6 billion inheritance tax. A £40 million cap would stop this.
It's not illegal for the super-rich to put these assets into trusts but it deprives the Treasury of significant income. The 7th Duke's unpaid contribution could have built 40 hospitals (at £90 million per hospital, including equipment and infrastructure) and would have represented almost 80% of the total inheritance tax paid to HMRC in 2015-16. The £40 million cap is based on the BBC's figure (January 2015) that to join the super-rich you need to be worth $50-$100 million.
Timeline
| 16 Aug 2016 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 16 Feb 2017 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
137
Status
Closed
Opened
16 Aug 2016
Closed
16 Feb 2017
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.