17 FEBRUARY 1990, Page 23

Sir: Your excellent leading article 'Death and taxes' (3 February)

omitted one categ- ory of person on whom inheritance tax bears particularly hard. This is the unmar- ried woman who gives up her career to look after an aged parent and when the parent dies is unable to stay in the family home because of inheritance tax. Many relatively modest houses in the south of England are now worth more than £118,000 and if there is little else in the estate a 40 per cent tax on the excess over £118,000 can force the sale of a home.

T. A. R. Curran

Wolmer Wood, Marlow Common, Buckinghamshire