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England's elite hiding billions of inherited wealth
Houses in the wealthy district of Marylebone, London
[Katya Korovkina / Unsplash]
ENGLAND’S elite families are concealing at least 35 per cent of their inherited wealth, according to new research.
Analysing historical data spanning 100 years, London School of Economics Professor Neil Cummins identified over 9,000 dynasties where £9 billion of their wealth is “missing.”
The paper, published in The Economic History Review this month, looks at probate records from 1892 to 1992 to compare the declared wealth at death before and after 1920 — the year when inheritance tax rose from 2-3 per cent to 85 per cent for the wealthiest.
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