There is much concern that Inheritance Tax will be hiked in some way to pay for all the stuff that Labour has to pay for. Would it, though, really be worth it and what could they do? The thing is it doesn’t, in the scheme of things, raise that much. £8bn might sound a lot, but would only keep the NHS going for around two weeks. Income tax + national insurance together raise £450bn. Here’s the math: raising those two by 1% would raise more than a 50% increase in IHT. Capital Gains Tax, another rumoured target, nets around £16bn; so, OK, only a 25% increase needed, but you get my drift. Would we notice 1% on income tax and NI? More in the mind than pocket, I’d say. A 50% rise in IHT and CGT would not affect nearly as many, but the psychological effect would be greater still.
“Autumn Budget: Capital Gains Tax Changes Dominate”
It could have been worse. Apparently there was a plan to really change CGT, probably to align it with income tax, but HMRC said ’not without lots more staff!’ So she didn’t.
