Our first question from Bill asks for Mike’s predictions ahead of the Autumn Statement.
Mike responds: “The Chancellor is facing a growing debt burden and is not in a position to offer large tax cuts. He is also concerned that cutting personal tax might lead to higher inflation. However, all chancellors like to announce some good news, if only to catch a few positive headlines.
“I think he will try and help savers who are facing higher income tax because of cuts in the savings and dividend allowances, in addition to frozen personal allowances. An increase in the ISA limit coupled with more flexibility would cost little in the short term but would be welcomed by many.
“With the housing market depressed by higher mortgage rates I think he could help homeowners and housebuilders by increasing the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) starting threshold from £250,000.
“I am also expecting some recognition of the difficulties being faced by families with young children. There is a reasonable chance that he will increase the clawback threshold from £50,000. I appreciate that this income may seem high to many readers but it will not seem that way for many bringing up a family at a time of high inflation and increasing mortgage rates. Ideally, I would like to see wholesale reform of the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge to base it on overall household income rather than that of the highest earner, which from the outset was clearly unfair.
“Hopefully, he will take the opportunity to confirm that stay at home parents will not miss out on state pension benefits by failing to register for child benefit, often because they would have had it clawed back.
“I do not expect the chancellor to respond to the Telegraph campaign by abolishing inheritance tax (IHT), but he might cut the rate from 40 per cent and he could afford to make increases in some of the smaller allowances including the £3,000 annual allowance.”