The government plans to increase the amount of inheritance tax as part of the Budget, the BBC has learned.

It’s not clear how many people are likely to pay more, or how much more they would pay.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor are understood to be considering multiple changes to the tax, which currently includes several exemptions and reliefs.

Inheritance tax is charged at 40% on a deceased person’s property, possessions and money above the threshold of £325,000.

This brings in around £7 billion a year to the government.

Around 4% of deaths give rise to inheritance tax.

This tax includes a series of exemptions that over the years several governments have considered modifying in order to raise more money.

Changes to a number of these are believed to be under consideration.

Current exemptions and reliefs include rules about gifts that are given during your lifetime.

If a person gives more than £325,000 in cash or gifts but dies within seven years, the beneficiaries could be liable for inheritance tax.

There is also Relief from inheritance tax and agricultural relief for businesseswhich allows land or pasture used to grow crops or raise animals to be exempt from inheritance tax.

It is unclear what changes will be made to the budget on Wednesday, October 30.

A Treasury spokesperson told the BBC: “We do not comment on speculation about tax changes outside of tax events. »

Ministers are trying to close what they claim is a £40bn gap between what they want to spend and the amount of tax they expect to collect.

Government sources say it is vital to carry out a “reset of public finances” and are keen to highlight what they see as “the scale of the challenge”.

This can be seen as part of managing expectations before Rachel Reeves’ speech.

Most new governments raised taxes immediately after the general election.

The budget should be presented as “Repairing the foundations to bring about change”.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor have already appeared at lecterns titled “Fixing the Foundations” – an attempt to highlight what they claim is the mess they inherited from the Tories.

For several weeks, senior government officials have been suggesting that the amount of National Insurance paid by employers will increase.

Labor’s manifesto before the general election stated that “Labor will not increase taxes on workers, which is why we will not increase national insurance, basic, higher or additional rates of income tax.” income, or VAT”.

This significantly limits their opportunities to raise more tax revenue.

But ministers appear willing to extend the spirit, if not the letter, of their promise by introducing national insurance for employers, some of whom – small businesses – would likely consider themselves workers.

The chancellor is expected to give herself further breathing space by changing the government’s self-imposed rules on when it can borrow money, and has told some departments their budgets will be lower than they want.

A Labor source said the spending negotiations had caused “significant angst” within the cabinet.

Shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the BBC: “During the election we repeatedly warned that Labour’s money was not adding up and that they were planning to raise taxes. The real scandal is that even though they had planned these tax increases all along, they did not have the courage to admit it publicly during the election campaign.

“Unfortunately, it appears that it will be the people who have saved their entire lives to provide an inheritance for their families who will pay the price of rising labor taxes.”