Death and taxes: estate duty – a neglected factor in changes to British business structure after World War Two

Marie M. Fletcher

doi:10.1080/00076791.2021.1892642

Death and taxes: estate duty – a neglected factor in changes to British business structure after World War Two

Marie M. Fletcher^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

This paper will examine Estate Duty(ED) and its impact on the structure of smaller British businesses. ED was one of the most controversial and wide-ranging taxes ever imposed in the UK. It was the first substantive tax on capital. It was partly responsible for the reconfiguration of British business in the 1940s- 1950s as businesses sought to avoid the Duty with measures which could result in the loss of a family firm to the “corporate economy”. Examining this phenomenon adds a hitherto unexplored dimension to the arguments of business historians surrounding the structure of British business and its relative performance after World War II.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	187-209
Number of pages	23
Journal	Business History
Volume	65
Issue number	1
Early online date	22 Mar 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2021.1892642
Publication status	Published - 2 Jan 2023

Keywords

estate duty
death duties
corporate economy
business structure
anticipatory action

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10.1080/00076791.2021.1892642Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

2021 02 15 Fletcher Death finalFinal published version, 1.33 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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Death and taxes: estate duty – a neglected factor in changes to British business structure after World War Two

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Keywords

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