In a very clever example of electioneering, George Osborne gave us a surprisingly generous autumn statement today. Many of his policies were pre-leaked and in spite of earlier warnings that there is no money available for ‘giveaways’, he actually announced a number of potential tax savings for taxpayers across the UK.
Clearly the stamp duty reforms have attracted the most attention and these remained a very carefully guarded secret until the end of his speech. We predicted a possible revision to the inheritance tax threshold, but this didn’t materialize; instead this stamp duty shake up represents a significant tax saving opportunity, particularly for first time buyers and property investors. (more…)