THE Government should follow new French president Nicolas Sarkozy's lead and abolish inheritance tax, a pressure group said today.

The call came after it emerged that World Cup hero Alan Ball's family is to have to pay an inheritance tax bill of £83,200 because of the sale of his winner's medal and cap two years ago.

Ball, 61, sold his 1966 medal and the cap for £208,000 in 2005 and at the time said it was to provide a better future for his family.

But he died suddenly last month at his Warsash home of a heart attack as he tried to put out a fire in his garden.

His son Jimmy, 31, has said his father's estate - thought to be worth about £1 million - will now have to pay the 40 per cent tax on the value over the £300,000 threshold.

Mr Ball said his father had already paid capital gains tax on the sale of the medal and cap but now he and his sisters Mandy, 39, and Keely, 35, would have to pay again.

''I know that I'm going to get a whopping bill from the tax man and I think that the system needs looking at,'' he said ''That he was forced to sell the items that were very dear to him was bad enough but to have to pay tax on them was difficult for him to accept."

Pressure group Taxpayers' Alliance said it was time the Government got rid of the tax.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Alliance, said: ''Alan Ball's family have discovered the cruel reality of this immoral and unnecessary tax that affects thousands of families who are not rich every year.

''Our tax system should reflect our values as a society and this death tax punishes people who only want to look after their families after they have gone.

''Only outright abolition - as Nicolas Sarkozy plans in France - would address the unfairness of this outdated tax that offends everyone's morality.''