‘Should we be panicking? What taxes will go up and when, because Labour always put up taxes, don’t they?’ What we do know is that they have pledged that they ‘will not raise taxes on working people’, which means the holy trinity of income tax, NI and VAT. So what are the targets likely to be? CGT? Yes, it may well go up to align with income tax rates, that would make sense. Pensions? High rate tax relief could go, but that would mean a pay cut for many a doctor, as would further tinkering with the lifetime allowance. IHT? Well, yes, but is it worth it? It doesn’t raise that much in the scheme of things and is very unpopular. I will come back to my usual mantra, that you can only plan on the basis of what you know, and if you try to second guess stuff that might happen, you’re as likely to lose as to win. Just like trying to second-guess stock markets; or even the winner of Wimbledon.
“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.
