ABSTRACT
A study of the history of the death duties fulfils two main purposes. First it helps to explain the present. For example, in re-assessing the current estate duty, it is useful to know why estate duty became the dominant and ultimately the sole form of death duty in the United Kingdom. Second, the history of death duties throws light on the contemporary scene—its social theories and customs, its economic and political conflicts and development, its fiscal and administrative limitations and necessities. The main purpose of this historical review has been to provide a knowledge of the past to enable us better to comprehend the present. Thus the history offers at least a partial explanation of why estate duty became established as the main and latterly the sole form of death duty in the United Kingdom. A relevance for the modern tax reformer the death duties have a special significance for the student of history.
