One in four of wealthy Brits are thinking of fleeing the UK ahead of Reeves’ budget, according to a survey by wealth manager Saltus. They point to increases in IHT as well as VAT on private schools. They are also bracing for further tax hikes at the budget…
Saltus partner Mike Stimpson warned:
“Whether it’s capital gains tax, income tax or inheritance tax, high net worth individuals are braced for further changes at the autumn Budget. This cohort are the wealth creators, investors and employers who drive economic growth. If their confidence is undermined by continual uncertainty, that has consequences for everyone.”
Meanwhile, private sector job vacancies dropped by 2.1% year-on-year in August, according to jobs search engine Adzuna. At the same time companies expect private sector activity to fall in the next three months, according to the CBI. Things can only get worse…
Rayner has admitted she didn’t pay enough tax on her second home and has referred herself to the independent ethics adviser over the matter. The DPM told Beth Rigby a court order around her divorce was lifted last night and gave an explanation for herself:
“In 2020, my son, had an award and a trust was set up by the court to deal with his finances as part of that award, with a legal trustee. And in 2023, when me and my husband divorced, the decision was because that home was adapted to support my son, who was lifelong disabilities as a result of that injury that occurred to him, that trust was set up and they decided that they would take on the property so that me and my husband could have a nest in arrangement where we could provide for my child in our family home, which is our family home and remains our family home. So when I’m looking after the children, I go back to the family home. And then when my ex-husband is looking after children, he does. And it was done primarily to support my son with his additional needs and to provide stability for them during the divorce. And that was the arrangement that we put in place.
I then went to purchase, took my life savings, basically out of the property, the 25% that I still owned within the property, took that money out so that I could purchase with a mortgage the place in Hove. And I took, you know, advice, on that. And I relied on that, legal advice that I received that said that I was liable to pay the standard stamp duty.
Subsequently to that with all of the media reports that have been coming out, I took expert counsel advice on all of my affairs to ensure that everything was done proper and that expert counsel said that the advice that I received was inaccurate because of the trust. I don’t own the property. That is true. I only own one property that is mortgage like most people. But because of the nature of the trust that was set up by the court, that I would be liable to pay the additional stamp duty. As soon as I knew that that was the case, I have alerted and referred myself to the independent adviser on the ministerial code to ensure that they can look transparently at what has happened, and also contacted HMRC to say that, there is additional tax owing on this, and that I’m prepared to pay that and fully comply with the HMRC as well.”
Rayner has referred herself to the PM’s independent ethics adviser. She says she has told HMRC that she may owe additional tax. She also says she considered resigning: “I spoke to my family about it. I spoke to my ex-husband, who has been an incredibly supportive person because he knows that all I’ve done is try and support my family and help them.” In the red…
The DPM appealed to the public that she “made a mistake based upon the advice that I relied upon that I received at the time, and a leading expert has now said that advice was wrong. I think hopefully most people can see, if you take, if you rely on advice given to you by lawyers and you follow that process and then you find out that that process is wrong and that advice is wrong, I’m rectifying it at the earliest opportunity. People make mistakes, but I conducted myself in trying to do the right thing, and I hope that people can see that.” Sympathy may not be forthcoming…
UPDATE: Starmer’s spokesman says Rayner should “pay what is due” if tax authorities find she owes additional stamp duty.
Downing Street’s recently-departed special economics adviser says that Labour will have to find a way to raise taxes now. So says every Downing Street official who has since left…
Ravinder Athwal, who left government in July and also wrote Labour’s manifesto, said it has been “steady progress” so far in government but the party has faced “a lot of challenges to grasp, the objective has been to sort of stabilise.” Athwal added cautiously that Labour “hasn’t quite finished delivering” on items it promised…
Athwal said on the Westminster Insider podcast that taxes will have to rise because “things have changed… whose side are you on, who are you choosing to tax.” Athwal says there are “options” outside of the taxes Reeves pledged not to raise. New budget architect Torsten Bell has some ideas…
A whopping 60% of British millionaires believe life would be better outside the UK, according to a poll of more than 1,000 wealthy people by Arton Capital. Rachel Thieves’ taxes are to blame…
53% said they felt less wealthy due to the rising cost of living, while more than half of 18-24 year olds also said they felt life would be better outside the UK. Top destinations to flee to include the US, Canada, Australia and the UAE, while 82% were interested in getting a ‘Golden Visa’. Arton Capital CEO Armand Arton said:
“The UK is at a tipping point. The uncertainty around the government’s proposed wealth tax mirrors the ongoing economic uncertainty seen around the world. The UK risks losing capital, talent and long-term investment to countries that offer greater security”.
It is already predicted that 16,500 dollar millionaires will leave the UK in 2025 thanks to the non-dom tax raid. Meanwhile, the Treasury has briefed Reeves will impose a property tax on homes worth more than £500,000 as wealthy people brace for tax hikes in the Autumn Budget. Labour sending talent and capital packing…
Rachel Reeves has refused to say she wants taxes to go down in a shift from her pre-election rhetoric. Voters must be tearing their hair out…
The Chancellor is up before the Lords Economic Affairs Committee this afternoon. Tory Lord Blackwell asked if – seeing as hers is the first government to get more than 35% of GDP in taxation since the war – Reeves has “a ceiling or view on what is the right level of taxation in the long run once you get through the current debt problem.” Good question…
Reeves could not. She said: “So the OBR forecast for this parliament uh have in the final year of the forecast period tax as a share of GDP at 38%. That’s not a target but that reflects the fiscal rules… those are the things that are my constraints and the anchor for fiscal policy are those two fiscal rules rather than a tax to GDP ratio.” She went on to say the ratio could be reduced by raising GDP. Pressed on whether she was targeting an increase or decrease in the tax-to-GDP ratio Reeves could not answer and said: “It’s a stability rule to balance day-to-day spending with tax receipts and investment rule to get debt down as a share of GDP.” She won’t even say is trying to get it down…
Guido remembers when Reeves railed against a “70-year high” in taxation at the election and at the rising forecast for tax take. Poacher, gamekeeper…
Treasury minister James Murray was on the morning round today as tax hike speculation continues to spiral. Pressed on Sky News about whether Labour would extend the freeze on income tax thresholds beyond 2028, Murray refused to rule it out:
“There’s lots of speculation about lots of different tax measures, and you’ll forgive me that I’m not going to get into that.”
Meanwhile, UK inflation is the highest in the G7, and unemployment is at its worst level in more than four years. Back in the autumn, Reeves admitted in Parliament that extending the threshold freeze would break a manifesto promise. She added it would “hurt working people”…
Downing Street still insists taxes “won’t rise for working people”, though no one there seems quite sure what a “working person” actually is. They’re not ruling out a wealth tax either…
Shadow Financial Secretary Gareth Davies warned: “Labour have created a black hole in the public finances because of the Prime Minister’s weakness and inability to cut spending. That means more tax rises are coming.” Autumn is looking bleak…
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns told Times Radio she would have put a precondition on a China trip if she were PM:
“I would have put a precondition that I was not going to go if I was prime minister, unless Jimmy Lai was coming home with me. I would also put a precondition in the six months leading up to the visit that I wanted a reduction in hostile acts against our country. But that’s not what we saw. And actually, in contrast, what we saw was clearly the Chinese Communist Party did put a precondition, which was that the new embassy in London had to be signed off. So why is it okay for China to set preconditions and to make very clear red lines about what they require for a visit, but we go without having put any ourselves?”