Introduce inheritance tax

Recently, Princess Margaret's estate was valued at £7.6 million and 40% death duties on it came to over 3 million pounds. Her children Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah must pay this sum to the exchequer before they can inherit anything. So they were forced to auction and sell the Princess's jewellery, furniture and art collection, which took place on 13 June 2006 at Christie's London.

An inheritance tax of 40% on anyone dying in Bangladesh and possessing an estate valued over 2 crore taka on death would go a long way in redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor and have a 'trickle down' effect on the whole economy. Of course capital transfer tax or gift tax at the same rate must be imposed on any property being handed over to anyone during the lifetime of a rich person also, with perhaps exception of gifts to charities or philanthropic institutions.

Such provision of an inheritance tax should be enshrined in the Bangladesh constitution.