Sir Ed Davey tonight suggested the Lib Dems would back inheritance tax cuts to protect family homes - by getting the supper rich to cough up more.
The party leader said the current system was 'unfair' on middle class people who get 'clobbered' while the super rich use 'snazzy accountants' to evade payments.
He suggested reform of the system so that people whose main asset is their home pay less and those with 'really very vast inheritances' are forced to stop 'tax planning'.
Fears have been raised that Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves could use IHT to help fill a purported hole in the Treasury's coffers, including levying it on pensions.
In an interview with the BBC at the annual Lib Dem conference in Brighton Sir Ed said: 'A lot of people's homes in many areas of the country are quite valuable and they end up being clobbered by inheritance tax.
'That's unfair because if you look at the flip side, people who are inheriting huge amounts of money often are able, through clever tax planning to avoid inheritance tax. So I'd like to see a reform that made it more fair, frankly.'
The party leader said the current system was 'unfair' on middle class people who get 'clobbered' while the super rich use 'snazzy accountants' to evade payments.
He suggested reform of the system so that people whose main asset is their home pay less and those with 'really very vast inheritances' are forced to stop 'tax planning'.
When he was asked if using a clampdown on the super-rich to make up any shortfall would fail because they are so good at gaming the system he added: 'The point is that we've allowed snazzy accountants ... to enable people to do lot of tax planning and to avoid it, and we've got to stop that.
'And if we did that I think the people who are really wealthy and people who are benefiting from really very vast inheritances, they could pay more if we got this well done so the snazzy accountants couldn't hide the money.'
However Sir Ed defended calling for increases in capital gains tax, adding: 'Personal taxes went up hugely under the Conservatives and they've still got some Conservative income tax rises that are still in the Budget to come.
'That appalling increase in taxes under the Conservatives and the cost of living means that you shouldn't be arguing for that approach any longer.
'And that's why we've looked at things like reversing the tax cuts that were given to the big banks, why we looked at CGT, why we looked as you know, during the general election asking social media giants to pay more.
'These sorts of things where we can get money from those people who can afford it [so] those people being clobbered by the Conservatives and are suffering under the cost of living, don't pay more.'
Sir Ed left his party's conference in Brighton on Monday morning to visit volunteers in the Sussex countryside, where he helped them replace a stile near Ditchling village.
He also saw inside Oldland Mill near Hassocks, and helped 'wind' the restored structure, moving the sails manually into the wind.
Asked about Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves' first budget due on October 30, Sir Ed said: 'I think NHS and care are absolutely critical, both to save our NHS and to get our economy going.'
