What financial steps are you taking to hedge the risk of a Burham Budget?

[Toohotforwork]

With all the financial uncertainty at the moment what are you doing to prepare/de risk Burham's actions?

We were in a chain to move house but have pulled since we don't really need to move. If the wealth tax came in the new house would be a silly choice and if stamp duty changes we might be better going somewhere else.

I think CGT will increase so we have trimmed our share portfolio a bit. We crystalized some gains and rebased them to current valuations.

We have taken cash that was sitting in the business out to protect from dividend increases. We'll decide where to invest it once we have a bit more clarity on what is going to happen. If interest rates increase will pay down the debt on our rental for example.

What have you been doing to hedge your finances?

The tax that is due under the current taxation system and fair taxation are (arguably) two different things!

No rage. Just logical financial planning.

Who in their right mind would purchase a house now when they A) don't know what the council tax or equivalate will be or B) might be the last people to pay stamp duty.

Personally I think getting rid of stamp duty is a great idea. That is one of the reasons I'm willing to wait. If the property tax rules aren't too outrageous we will move then.

The trouble is there are not enough million/billionaires to increase revenue a lot taxes need to increase across the board.

if stamp duty changes come in this could be worth thousands

Seems pointless to live your life in fear of what might happen. The whole point of having resources is to have options - options to buy a better house for instance. If it's not going to break you either way then why not go for it? You get you've the life you want now rather than waste a couple of years. Can't take it with you.

You seem to be getting very upset about an opinion from a stranger 🤔

The problem is that this would badly affect the North and there is not way Burnham is going to to do this.

I have in a tiny 3 bed house in the SE which is around 1,000 sq ft and so would pay around £1,250 which is half what I pay in council tax as my house is worth around £500k.

So I don't think that £1.25 would be high enough to make up for both council tax and stamp duty.

We decided not to move at all. We have cash from a recent inheritance, but I don’t really want a huge house - the only reason to move would be to speculate onthe rise in property value and its a silly reason to move when we are happy where we are. So we decided instead to sink money into other investments, particularly thinking about investing for our kids. And Dh has bought a flashy car which he thinks will appreciate in value and is fun to drive!

We have a modest house that can be vastly improved so that’s what we are doing - solar panels went in this month; replacing the 40 year old windows next month. Then we are heading into building works to refurb the house downstairs.

I am also saving up because dc2 might need to have private education later on and mainstream might not be his best option (he’s partially deaf).

Nothing, I am skint and on a fixed income. No investments, no property portfolio, just some small savings for absolute emergencies so I am not really engaged. I have been battered by the COL crisis, so hoping for something to address the ever inceasing expenses of just surviving. My day to day costs have gone up by a combined total of 129% in the last three or so years, and that is food, fuel, water, council tax, internet, phone, insurance, all the things we have to have just to get by.

@MustTryHarderAndHarder I'm not sure it would negatively affect the North. There are plenty of examples where people up North are paying more in council tax than their southern counterparts, depending on which council is setting the rates. That is unfair too. A flat rate based on something that cannot be fiddled just seems to me to be a better option than one based on the notional value of a property. If council tax is unfair because it is based on house values of 1991, how does updating them to 2026 values make it any fairer? They're still just valuations, not concrete evidenced figures.

We may well do that. In the past we would brought another rental property instead but that route has been closed off really with the hatred for BTL landlords.

Though, flashy cars rarely make good investments.

Just keeping my head down and arse up till Labour are history!

And this is the stupidity of council tax.

My flat is worth about £240k and I pay just over £180 / month, so £1800 a year.

It should be based on property values now.

I agree. But I’m also sick of people assuming everyone in the south is rich and can afford to buy massively over priced houses. Our areas council tax is a lot too, it’s not my fault my house costs more because of where it is.

And we know they wouldn’t charge based on number of people in the house as we all know how that went down last time…!

That's similar to council tax in my previous house worth 140k.... 130 a month with single discount, 180 without

This is always the cry- but it's how we financed setting up the NHS and the welfare state. Millionaires and billionaires want you to believe you can't/ there is no point to taxing them- that's why they fund the media and lots of think tanks and lobbying firms- to get their message out- don't fall for it, it's nonsense.

Yeah I’m with you. Someone is bored and making shit up to insight some nonsense

No way would any tax be switched to based on square footage. But if it did, I would potentially be more likely to make my fantasy sideways move from a family home to a sea view apartment. Or a city of London flat. Makes no sense!

That's a very common viewpoint when I'm talking to clients about pensions, capital gains, investments, business sales, etc. People are holding back on buying/investing and bringing forward sales of businesses/investments as they're frightened of what's coming next. There's certainly a general feeling of just "treading water" for a couple of years until the next election in the hope that there will be honesty/transparency about what the next government will do so people can plan accordingly. Too much doubt with Burnham and I don't think many people believe he'll stick with the manifesto that Labour won with in 2024!

More millionaires and billionaires will move abroad so HMRC get nothing at all from them.

Look at Tyson Fury - he hasn't moved to the Isle of Man because he likes steam trains and trams!!

And a PP makes an excellent point about the many people who withdrew their TFLS from DC pensions when they expected it to be cut. Many will have missed out on a fair chunk of growth on their funds and thus growth of their TF amount. They would like not have had sufficient ISA allowance to reinvest so also now paying income tax on any growth / dividends / interest.

I still believe making changes to your financial position based on speculation is stupid.

This is the other cry- you tax their property not their income, if the property is here you get taxed on it, no matter where you live.

I wonder about inheritance tax. Am forming a civil partnership soon with partner of 30+ years. Depending on changes it might not be necessary.

Yes, I agree that it is unfair that a multimillion mansion in Kensington does not pay much more than a £500k house in the north, but just considering the issue of my house (which is unusual, to be fair, as my house in particularly small because it is detached in an area where there are very few detached houses so people are happy to pay extra), that I would be paying half the tax of a normal sized house in the North. I just can't see Burnham doing it for that reason.

But I agree, that it is so difficult to work out what a property is worth. We had a BTL which we tried to sell and got an offer but they pulled out because of the restrictive covenants. No houses of that type have sold for over 10 years because when people try to sell, they can't and so they turn them in to BTLs. So who know what our property is worth if no-one will buy it?

Disagree. We built our own home with our own hands, brick by brick. We have no holidays and drive 15- and 20-year-old cars. Both work 40 hours in factories for the average wage. It would be a wealth tax on our home, which we couldn’t afford to pay. It’s valued at around £1.25 million; it’s a modest home. I often wonder if we’d have more disposable income if we hadn’t been strivers.