Weds 29th Nov 2023
The speaker at this morning’s networking breakfast meeting was David Meredith, principal at Busbys Chartered Accountants. David was updating the group on the likely impact to them, as business owners, of the previous week’s autumn statement.
In a relatively quiet statement there were no changes to personal tax rates, but the freezing of allowances at a time when wages are increasing somewhat in line with inflation serves to draw more and more people into lower- or higher-rate tax bands. As a result the treasury can expect about £40bn in addition tax take, leaving the overall tax burden at its highest since 1948!
This has allowed the chancellor to be somewhat generous in some areas, though, particularly with National Insurance contributions, increasing pensions in line with the triple-lock and increasing the minimum wage. Although the latter will draw even more people into the lowest tax band. David speculates that also gives leeway for a pre-election giveaway budget in 2024. Only time will tell.