Tag Archives: budget

Rumours are rife that our hapless Chancellor is cooking up some very unpalatable recipes to plug the holes in her Budget bucket

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The first rumour was about an Exit Tax to try to stem the torrent of some 16,000 non-dom millionaires fleeing these shores for more welcoming fiscal climes elsewhere in the world, which would be as effective as a ‘perforated male contraceptive device’!

The second rumour is about getting rid of the tax free seven-year gift allowance, which bypasses Inheritance Tax (IHT).  This would also be as useful as a ‘chocolate fireguard’ to the accident-prone government, since everyone would stop gifting assets to their children and therefore, no money would be raised as a result.  Yes, it would add to the IHT take in the end, but this could be in 10-20 years time and certainly not much use to an incompetent Chancellor, urgently trying to raise some emergency monies, to fill the £50billion hole in her autumn Budget. Continue reading →

Thoughts on the Spring Budget 2021 – still a little ‘Father Christmas’ but, thankfully, less ‘Mr Scrooge’

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Our esteemed Chancellor was kinder than we had feared. The hikes in Capital Gains tax which certainly would have affected the buy-to-let market, were not present and the Stamp Duty moratorium will continue to the end of June, with a Nil band rate set at £ 250,000. This will give a respite to those buyers who were anxious that completions on their properties would not take place before the previous deadline at the end of March. Continue reading →

Mr Sunak, don’t do a half job on Stamp Duty on Wednesday’s Mini-Budget – do it properly, or not at all

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As the press media would have us believe, apart from tinkering with VAT, it looks as though Mr Sunak is going to raise the threshold of Stamp Duty as a limp gesture, for a year, to get the residential property market off its knees.

I’m wondering who is, today, advising the Treasury about the state of the residential market? Whoever they may be, the truth is that as a direct result of the government-backed scheme – Right-to-Buy – this has been stoking up the lower end of the market, for some time now. Frankly, activity in this sector has been quite brisk and doesn’t really need any further stimulation. Continue reading →