Two very different tax stories this week. In America, @realDonaldTrump is cutting taxes, the oft-mooted theory being that putting more money into the economy makes everyone, not just the rich, richer and more, not less tax is paid in the end. In Scotland, @NicolaSturgeon (who doesn’t have quite as many Twitter followers) is on the well-trodden ‘those with the broadest shoulders should pay more’ path. Which will work? Will either be in power long enough for us to find out?
A couple of other Statement Highlights (in my world, anyway). A welcome ‘nothing happened’ on the treatment of pensions on death. They were never going to be liable to IHT (too complicated with trusts and trust law) but there was talk of making them income-taxable on the recipients at whatever age you die.
Well, the lesson of this week in politics must be to expect the unexpected. Or, alternative interpretation, to expect more of the same. The speculation on the future of Inheritance Tax has switched from abolition to a rise in the amount of wealth you can have before the 40% payment hits.
You’d be surprised at how many we meet who’ve never ‘got around’ to getting married, sometimes after many, many years of being together.