The Budget, inheritance tax – and death

November will bring the budget, and there will follow frantic activity among economists, commentators and financial advisors. Martin Lewis will undoubtedly have a budget special on Radio 5 and an extended podcast. Inheritance tax is expected to feature prominently.

Dealing with probate and inheritance tax is a complicated business. It can also be an emotional and fraught one. People prefer to pass things on to family rather than the government, which is entirely understandable. Being able to provide for your family not only in the day-to-day, but for the long term after your death is a good thing: “Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun” (Ecc.7v11). As the preacher in Ecclesiastes says, money is a shelter. However, he adds that wisdom is greater because it preserves those who have it (Ecc.7v12), which is quite surprising considering how significant inheritance was in ancient Israel.

As we sat in a now neglected garden a few weeks after her grandmother’s death, my daughter said: “It’s really true, isn’t it – you can’t take anything with you when you die”. A truth that she had known but now felt: “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They can take nothing from their toil…” (Ecc.5v15). We all know it, but somehow don’t grasp it.

It is not uncommon for us to put our heads in the sand and pretend death is far off. That is why October was “Free Wills Month”, when organisations tried to encourage people to write a will and face up to the reality of death. It is estimated that 32 million adults do not have a will in the UK, which is about 47%. Dying intestate makes things even harder for family who are left behind.

This year our family has had a birth, a wedding and a funeral, and without doubt the event that had the most impact was the death. All of these things happening around me in the last few months have made me understand in a clearer way why the preacher in Ecclesiastes says: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to a house of feasting” (Ecc.7v2).

A death in the family reminds everyone of their mortality. A funeral makes you look back on a life, and ask: “What was important? What was significant? What is of lasting value?” Disposing of a house is sad; for some in my family, the loss of the family home of 60+ years has been another type of bereavement, bringing with it a rootlessness, particularly for those who have made other countries their home in their adult life. Where is home now? So many thoughts raised. What is the point of it all? Without the gospel, death brings a wretched hopelessness. It is no wonder so many in our country try to ignore it. But, as they also say, two things are certain – death and taxes.

I believe a major purpose of the book of Ecclesiastes is to awaken us to the reality of death and encourage us to live wisely in this temporary world. True wisdom is fearing the Lord and acknowledging Him in every part of our lives as our creator and judge.

We need to know we will die, not just to put our affairs in order for those left behind, but to be prepared for that day when God will bring every deed into judgement. The Anglican prayer book has a prayer that we will be spared from a sudden death for just this reason.

This would be terrifying if we had no hope, but we do have something that lasts – the work of the gospel. The preacher in Ecclesiastes is clear – everything God does will endure forever. Christ’s blood shed for us gives us an eternal inheritance that can never spoil, perish, or fade. We have a heavenly home that will never be sold or cleared out. We have a place where we will not be rootless or forgotten.

A robin has just flown onto the bird feeder outside my kitchen window. I have a special relationship with this bird feeder – it used to belong to my mother-in-law. It gave her great pleasure to attract birds to her garden, and after she died, I relocated it to my garden. As I watch the birds, I am rejoicing that she was spared a sudden death. After 94 years, she made a profession of faith, and in her last days, she received that amazing grace and priceless inheritance. All of grace, but because she missed out on proclaiming that rescue to others I am sharing it with you now.