Confidence needed please

Published: 6 July 2020

On Wednesday Rishi Sunak will deliver a "Non-Budget". We are in a situation where if companies are confident that there will be buyers for their goods they will they retain staff.. and if people are confident in their job only then will they spend. This feedback loop will go one of two ways

I will post a video on Friday morning, but in advance, here are my thoughts on what we should be hoping for, so that the feedback loops goes goes in the right direction.

NIC

In March I mentioned that I would like to see alignment of both E'ers and E'ees NIC with the £12,500 threshold for PAYE. This would help to give confidence to Employers by cutting labour costs and take some low paid workers out of tax completely.

VAT

A temporary cut in VAT now looks likely: Louise Osselton, my fellow director mentioned this in a post dated 4 March 2020 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/next-weeks-budget-what-would-you-do-were-chancellor-adrian-barker/. A targeted approach such as for the hospitality sector would be gratefully received.

I don't though see this as effective as cuts in NIC, as it does not address the issue of confidence that I mentioned in the opening paragraph.

Stamp Duty

There are this morning, rumours that Stamp Duty could be cut significantly for 12 months, for homes up to £500,000. Currently the threshold is £125,000. The band from £250,000 - £925,000 is 5%. This change therefore would have a material effect for house-buyers outside London. It would be a huge boost in confidence for the housing market.

Wealth Tax

Please, No!!! There are some calls for a Wealth Tax. The theory is that those with "broadest shoulders" bear the burden. My beef though is that they are imposed on accumulated incomes taxed once before. We already have stamp duty, capital gains tax and inheritance tax.

Most proposals suggest that wealth taxes should be levied on net assets (so after deducting borrowings), and exclude pensions and primary residences on the basis of liquidity - "assets rich but cash poor". But doing that immediately wipes out most of the tax base... From £13 trillion down to £900 billion.