General Election – Tax Summary

    Daniel McAllister
    21st June 2024
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    The General Election is now under two weeks away, so we thought it would be timely to summarise the tax positions of the main parties. These are proposals taken from the party manifestos, which you will see contain some commitments not to increase certain taxes. Whether this means any without such a commitment are fair game post polling day only time will tell.

    Conservative Party Manifesto
    https://public.conservatives.com/static/documents/GE2024/Conservative-Manifesto-GE2024.pdf

    • No increase to the main rates of income tax
    • Personal tax thresholds frozen until 2028
    • Child benefit to be assessed on households with no reduction for household incomes under £120k
    • Triple lock plus for pensioners
    • No increase to the rate of VAT
    • Keep the VAT threshold under review
    • National insurance cut to 6% for employees (by April 2027)
    • Class 4 NICs to be abolished
    • No increase to corporation tax rate
    • Maintain R&D Tax Reliefs
    • Make permanent the increase to the threshold at which first-time buyers pay Stamp Duty to £425,000
    • Two-year temporary Capital Gains Tax relief for landlords who sell to their existing tenants.
    • No commitments or promises regarding inheritance tax
    • No increase in capital gains tax
    • Retain main CGT reliefs

    Labour party Manifesto 
    https://labour.org.uk/change/

    • No increase to the main rates of income tax or National Insurance
    • Corporation tax rate capped at current 25% rate throughout parliament
    • Full expensing made permanent (greater clarity on what qualifies for allowances)
    • No increase to the rate of VAT
    • Scrap exemption for private schools on VAT and business rates
    • No commitments or promises regarding inheritance tax or capital gains tax
    • Single fiscal event each year
    • Replacement of business rates system
    • Windfall tax on oil and gas companies
    • Increasing stamp duty on purchases by non-UK residents by 1%
    • Closing of non-dom tax loopholes

    Liberal Democrats Manifesto 
    https://www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto

    • No increase to the main rates of income tax or National Insurance
    • No increase to the rate of VAT
    • Windfall tax on the super-profits of oil and gas companies
    • Increasing the Digital Services Tax on social media firms and other tech giants from 2% to 6%.
    • Reforming capital gains tax to close loopholes “exploited by the super wealthy”.

    Reform Party Manifesto 
    https://www.reformparty.uk/policies

    • Raise the income tax threshold to £20,000
    • Higher rate income tax threshold would begin at £70,000.
    • Corporation Tax-  Lift the minimum profit threshold to £100k. Reduce the main Corporation Tax Rate from 25% to 20%, then to 15% from Year 3.
    • Cut fuel duty by 20p per litre
    • Increase VAT threshold to £150,000
    • Abolish Business Rates for high street based SMEs. Offset this with Online Delivery Tax at 4% for large, multinational enterprises
    • Cut entrepreneurs’ tax to 5%.
    • Scrap VAT on energy bills
    • Abolish IR35 Rules
    • Cut stamp duty to 0% on house purchases below £750,000, 2% between £750,000 and £1.5m and 4% over £1.5m.
    • Inheritance tax would be cut to 20% and would be payable on estates over £2m, with an option to donate to charity instead.

    Green Party Manifesto 
    https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/?utm_source=green-party&utm_medium=manifesto-footer-button&source=green-party-btn

    • 1% wealth tax on assets above £10m, 2% on assets above £1bn
    • Align capital gains tax rates with income tax
    • Aligning the tax rates on investment income with the tax and National Insurance Contribution rates on employment income.
    • An increase in the minimum wage to £15 an hour, no matter your age, with the costs to small businesses offset by reducing their National Insurance payments.
    • A move to a four-day working week.
    • Abolish the two-child benefit cap
    • Abolish the upper earnings limit for NICs.
    • A carbon tax to drive fossil fuels out of our economy and raise money to invest in the green transition.
    • A maximum 10:1 pay ratio for all private- and public-sector organisations.
    • Scrap VAT on cultural activities
    • In the long term, introduce a universal basic income

    Which of these policies are likely to be implemented is likely to be known on 5 July, but how soon after that any kind of Budget/Statement will occur we do not yet know.

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