The festering wound of inheritance tax has been reopened by the Conservative party's policy planners.
A policy think-tank set up by the Tories has recommended axing the tax because it penalises too many middle-income families.
According to Gary Barber, a partner and tax specialist in the private client team in Birmingham, the proposal would be a vote-winner in Middle England. He claims the tax is deeply unpopular and widely regarded as a double taxation.
He said: "My role is advising people on how to ensure their estates are organised as tax efficiently as possible and in my experience inheritance tax generates the most hostility.
"It is feared by the middle classes and is regarded by the wealthy as pernicious, with individuals having to take expensive legal and financial advice just to ensure that they receive the allowances and reliefs provided by the legislation."
At present, a tax of 40 per cent is payable on estates valued at more than £300,000 (£600,000 for married couples and civil partners who get the right advice), but the rise in property prices means more and more families are being caught in the inheritance tax trap.
Yet despite the fear factor, the reality is that only six per cent of estates are caught by the tax. Most estates pass free from tax between spouses, the majority are beneath the threshold, which Gordon Brown has already pledged to raise to £350,000 by 2010.
What's more, Mr Barber is convinced that even if the Tories do scrap inheritance tax – which is by no means certain as shadow chancellor George Osborne has not yet given it his endorsement – the party will find other ways to make up for the loss of revenue.
In the meantime, he says the present government's policy of anti-avoidance provisions has had the effect of widening the application of the tax to trust arrangements, which have been used for generations to make secure and protective arrangements for dependants. This has only added to the unpopularity of the tax.
Mr Barber said: "Let us hope that Gordon Brown does not jump on the band wagon. Vote winning by scrapping the tax and surreptitiously introducing an alternative with wider application – perhaps the existing capital gains legislation – would appeal to his stealth tax policy. Perhaps it's better the devil we know?"