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

Marie M. Fletcher

Business History, 2023, vol. 65, issue 1, 187-209

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.

Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:bushst:v:65:y:2023:i:1:p:187-209

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DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2021.1892642

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