New figures show that property taxes - often rising as a result of frozen thresholds - lead the way as the overall fiscal burden on landlords and others has increased at the start of the financial year.
Stamp duty receipts for April 2022 to March 2023 have been revealed to hit £19.3 billion - this is £0.7 billion higher than a year earlier, when the housing market was particularly frenzied.
Inheritance tax receipts - most of them based on property wealth - rose to £7.1 billion in the same period, some £1 billion higher than the year before. The latest forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility released last week show that IHT receipts could reach £7.2 billion this tax year.
Meanwhile receipts from PAYE Income Tax and NIC1 for April 2022 to March 2023 are £378.2 billion - a whopping £40.2 billion higher than in the same period a year earlier.
Not yet apparent is the increase in revenue HMRC will enjoy as a result of Capital Gains Tax changes which will particularly hit landlords.
CGT rates for residential properties are 18 per cent for any amount of the gain in the basic rate, and 28 per cent for any gain in the higher rate. This remains unchanged for the moment but exemptions have been sharply reduced, with more cuts to come.
The annual exemption is down from £12,300 to £6,000 in 2023/24 and will drop further to £3,000 in 2024/25.
The tax receipts data, released by HMRC in its latest bulletin this week, has triggered warnings from various business analysts.
Alex Davies, chief executive and founder of Wealth Club says: “The revenue generated from inheritance tax plays an important part in the government’s spending programme and so it will be interesting to see if Rishi Sunak will opt to change this in a bid to win popularity in the upcoming polls. With a deficit of £125 billion which is equivalent to £1,870 per head of the UK’s population, it could be an expensive tactic.”
And Helen Morrissey, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments: “There’s no getting away from the fact our tax burden is growing as a series of threshold freezes and cuts kick in. We’ve seen receipts for taxes such as inheritance tax, income tax and national insurance on the rise and recent cuts to capital gains tax thresholds will further boost future receipts.
“Stamp taxes soared in the last tax year surpassing £19bn in a roller coaster year that started strongly and rapidly ran out of steam.
“The cost-of-living crisis put a huge dent in people’s finances forcing many to put off their dream of home ownership and we saw house price growth starting to cool rapidly. The mini-Budget then introduced real chaos pushing up mortgage rates and forcing providers to take deals off the table. We’ve seen rates come down since, but many would-be buyers are holding back to see if they come down further before taking the plunge while others see the tough economic climate and its potential for redundancies as good reason to postpone a purchase. The strong receipts have been bolstered by strong house price performance earlier in the year. The uncertain market outlook means we could see receipts more muted over the coming months.”
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Make the most of it, as when all the properties are sold by Landlord's whom have had enough then tax revenue will fall off the edge of the cliff. Both income and CGT. Reversing decisions will come too late and they will have to think of another tax scam to replace this golden goose!
They'll have plenty of time on their hands whilst out of power to think up another tax scam come the next General Election.
As said above… Lap it up, feast whilst the times are good 🫤 once we have sold up the income stream will start to fall, and the benefits bill will increase as you house our recently evicted 😱
Well said Simon. 👍
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