Will they/won’t they? Hit pension tax relief/tax-free lump sums/annual allowance/lifetime allowance? What about Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax? And although they’ve said they won’t touch the rate of VAT, might they extend it? To the cost of our advice, for instance? One call from an older client last week: ‘What can I do? They’re saying this government is going to take all of our money?’ Here’s the point, the speculation, uncertainty and, in many cases self-serving panic-mongering has been seemingly endless, and has led many to take unnecessary decisions about their finances, to take all of their tax-free cash, to give money away which they can’t really afford to give, to sell buy-to-lets and investments just in case. At on extreme, Liz Truss’s disastrous budget came almost within hours of her appointment. This one has rumbled on far too long, without any pointers except that those with broad shoulders will suffer. But just how broad is broad?
“46% of Brits fear a fall in their standard of living”
Perhaps the coda to this should be that a majority of Brits do not fear a fall in their standard of living? Would that be the same optimistic majority who voted for Brexit?