Geektastic:
frankv:
Geektastic:
Death Duties were responsible for the loss of so many wonderful country houses - it was criminal. The unfortunate owners who were faced with the taxes sometimes ended up demolishing the houses because after paying the tax they had nothing left to run them. Britain lost a significant chunk of it's built heritage.
Was it Death Duties? Or was it that a wealthy man built an ostentatious country house that was unsustainable long-term, being dependent on (a) an enormous ongoing income from tea or cotton or slaves or raiding Spanish galleons, and/or (b) an endless supply of cheap labour for servants, farm workers, gardeners, and house maintainers/repairers, and/or (c) the owners having skills to manage the house and servants and income, and/or (d) no owner ever doing stupid stuff like gambling/wenching/boozing/ostentation/getting scammed/supporting a treasonous plot.
Not that this leftist rant especially needs dignifying with a response, but no, it was death duties. It was a working farm, not a vast estate.
What makes this a 'leftist' rant, and why do you have such a need to pin that meaningless label on everything you disapprove of? All the points made are perfectly valid, and can be linked to historical examples. Just because they don't apply in your specific case doesn't make them untrue.