As usual, the biggest tax hikes in the Budget are kept well below the radar if they’re not aimed at nasty big companies or rich villains (ie anyone rich). Gordon Brown (kids etc) introduced something called IR35, to make companies take contractors onto the books as employees and so make both pay more tax. He couldn’t make it work but it’s back, and you can bet that a government still-more desperate for more tax is going to make darn sure it does this time. Not good news for the armies of IT people who keep those big computer systems (sort of) working.
“Record year for annuity sales driven by advisers”
I was asked this week whether annuities are now ‘a good investment’. They’ve been recommended very rarely in recent years, since ‘pension freedoms’ allowed pretty much unlimited drawdown on pension funds and anything left to be passed on to beneficiaries free of Inheritance Tax.