The TUC's Brendan Barber and Barnados' Martin Narey led a Fabian debate on the positive case for inheritance tax. The debate followed our new pamphlet, How to Defend Inheritance Tax, and a letter to The Guardian signed by leading academics, unionists, and NGO leaders.

The debate launched a Fabian pamphlet How To Defend Inheritance Tax, calling for radical reform of the tax, and saying the present system has "come to the end of the road."

Figures such as LSE's Julian LeGrand, Roger Liddle (Policy Network), the TUC's Brendan Barber, Kate Green (Child Poverty Action Group) and parliamentarians including Lord Dubs, Fiona Mactaggart and Terry Rooney have all called for a positive argument for inheritance tax.

They wrote a letter to the Guardian saying that the "government must make the case for a fair and progressive tax system to ensure opportunities are made equal".

"Progressives must react to prevent any further inheritance tax reductions which again prioritise the richest, over the poorest, in our society."

The pledge for more support among Progressives for the inheritance tax comes as an upcoming Fabian pamphlet How To Defend Inheritance Tax argues that inheritance tax needs to be reformed.

"The present inheritance tax, which is really an estate tax, has reached the end of the road. The time has come to replace it with a capital receipts tax," the authors argue.

One model is lifetime capital receipts which allows each person to receive a quota of inheritance and gifts throughout their lifetime up to a certain value. Anything above that would be taxed.

The list of supporters includes:

Sunder Katwala Fabian Society, General Secretary, Professor John Hills Professor of Social Policy, LSE, Professor Julian Le Grand, LSE, Professor Ruth Lister Loughborough University, Professor Iain McLean, Professor of Politics, Oxford University, Professor David Miller Nuffield College, Oxford University, Professor Peter Townsend Vice President, Fabian Society, Lord Alf Dubs House of Lords, Dr Brian Iddon MP, Tom Levitt MP, Brendan Barber General Secretary, TUC, Gerry Morrisey General Secretary, BECTU, Kate Green Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group, Fran Bennett Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford, Roger Liddle Vice Chair Policy, Policy Network, Will Hutton chief executive, Work Foundation, Andy Love MP, John McDonnell MP, Dave Anderson MP, Colin Challen MP, Fiona Mactaggart MP, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Jon Trickett MP, John Grogan MP, Terry Rooney MP Chair, pensions select committee, Dr Stuart White Oxford University, Professor Karen Rowlingson Birmingham University, Dr Rajiv Prabhakar London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Professor Andrew Williams Warwick University, Ian Gibson MP, David Drew MP, Richard Exell TUC, Ruth Cadbury Barrow Cadbury Trust, Ann Cryer MP and Clare Short MP, Martin Narey Chief Executive, Barnardo's,