- The dividend allowance will be cut from £2,000 to £1,000 next year and then to £500 from April 2024. It means that by 2025, anyone receiving dividends above this amount (likely to include many landlords who have incorporated) will pay tax on them at a rate depending on how much other income they receive.
- Local authorities can raise council tax by five per cent without holding a referendum (that is three per cent, plus an additional two per cent if they have social care responsibilities). This is likely to be another pressure on private tenants and means band D council tax could rise from an average of £1,966 to as much as £2,064.
- Stamp Duty cuts announced in September will be time-limited, ending on March 31 2025. Hunt says: “This is to help the jobs and firms that rely on the housing market through the current challenges, while strengthening the public finances in the longer term.” Earlier this autuumn former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng increased the threshold at which Stamp Duty is charged on residential purchases from £125,000 to £250,000 with the threshold for first-time buyers also up from £300,000 to £425,000 and to be used on purchases worth up to £625,000.
- Inheritance Tax thresholds frozen for an extra two years, making hundreds of thousands of home owners liable to IHT. The threshold currently stands at £325,000 with a further residential nil rate band set at £175,000. IHT is levied at 40 per cent above this level.
- The threshold for when the highest earners start paying the top rate of tax will be brought down from £150,000 to £125,140. "Those earning £150,000 or more will pay just over £1,200 more a year, he says.
- Income tax personal allowance threshold will be frozen until 2028 the chancellor announces. This means millions of people will end up paying more in tax as their pay rises. The thresholds were already frozen until 2026.
- From 2025, road tax will be introduced for electric vehicles “so all motorists begin to pay a fair share. “
- A very large increase in windfall taxes. Oil and gas companies' tax will increase from 65 to 75 per cent of profits on UK operations until March 2028, extended from December 2025. There will also be a 40 per cent tax on profits of older renewable and nuclear electricity generation.
Other changes:
- The Pensions Triple Lock and Pension Credit will be protected and rise in April 2023 by 10.1 per cent. Hunt says “this will support pensioners through the challenging economic situation.”
- Over 600,000 more people on universal credit people must meet with work coaches "so they can get the support they need to increase their work hours or earnings."
- Another £280m will be invested to help the Department of Work and Pensions to crack down on benefit fraud and errors in the next two years.
- The government's review on the pension age will also be published in the New Year.
- It will be impossible to maintain the 0.7 per cent target of spending on overseas aid, Hunt says, until the economic situation allows. He insists he is committed to that target, but spending will remain at 0.5 per cent for until 2025 at least.
- The budget for schools will be increasing by £2.3 billion next year and £2.3 billion the year after - taking the core schools budget to a total of £58.8 billion.
- The government is making available: up to £2.8 billion in 2023-24 and £4.7 billion in 2024-25 for Adult Social Care, to help the most vulnerable.
- There will also be £3.3 billion in 2023-24 and a further £3.3 billion in 2024-25 to improve the performance of the NHS.
- New energy efficiency Taskforce to reduce UK energy demand by 15 per cent by 2030.
- To continue there ‘Levelling Up’ programme, the devolved administrations will receive £3.4 billion over the next two years. £1.5 billion for Scotland, £1.2 billion for Wales and £650m for Northern Ireland.
- The government claims that building of new infrastructure such as roads, train lines and communities will be safeguarded by over £600 billion in capital investment over the next five years.
Hunt spoke for almost an hour and the full speech he delivered, plus appendices, is 70 pages long - you can see it here.
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The expected changes to CGT were far worse in my mind than has actually occurred. In fact on balance I am ok with these proposals.
In real terms I will be worse off by £1500 ish when I sell a property in 2024. With the gains I have made on this property in last 4 years, some £50,000 it's fine. That said this is assuming the property market does not falter beyond 5%, well for me not in that particular part of Norwich.
You'll be alright there Andy, good area, plenty of employment locally, bus route to city centre, and walking distance to air port
Yes, i think will be ok also. I've got one of the old RAF Houses, 3-bed semi, near to the airport, lived there for about a year and liked Norwich very much.
Most LLs will struggle to sell before end of March and market conditions with mortgage rates as they are, arent favourble to getting the best price, so effectively this is an attempt to lock LLs into the PRS for now as opposed to increasing tax receipts, so at least it shows they recognise the housing challenge. Willing though to put money on the fact it will be reversed before the GE as economic conditions allow.
I was going to sell one a year for tax purposes but now it's all systems go. I can't wait to get out of the game. This has helped me make my decision.
Agreed
They are clearly trying to keep us from selling our properties, next will be a rent cap … then an evictions ban 😬 All bets are off for me, I am selling the lot asap.
I think you are right about tying us in. Labour are now muting an asset tax
The UK is BUST financially. Thanks to years of profligacy by all governments. And the bond markets said enough is enough. So that's what we have. But offshore individuals and offshore companies are still allowed to get away with it.
Is there any point in trying to work hard, do well, take risks?
This budget has got to be the most depressing, negative, aspiration destroying political event in my entire lifetime.
All because Sunak is both economically illiterate and incontinent. Hunt is just a disaster. Tax increases ASAP, theoretical spending cuts after they have lost the next election.
I enjoyed working hard, taking calculated risks and aiming high, and the rewards were there, so glad I'm not young in today's Britain, why would the young bother with all that now , no incentives, I know of some fine young people, 20s & 30s, that have come to the conclusion that there is no future for them in this country, packed their bags and left the sinking ship with no regrets
SDLT and CGT are nothing compared to the hikes in mortgage interest rates. There will be people losing their homes every day now, until lenders are forced to bring rates down to say 1-2% above base rate. Those home owners will be downsizing or trying to find a rental property.
Unlikely that anyone will be able to find a rental property, I am selling all mine so 60 people will lose their home, none have the means to purchase even though they will be offered first refusal.
I agree people will be losing their homes, but I really cannot see lenders reducing their rates
Rates are low, it's section 24 which is causing the problem for Landlord's.
With regard homeowners they need to decide what they want, an expensive life style or keep their house. I am sure it will be a tough decision for some, though it should not be.
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