Autumn Statement Nov 22

What I expect to see announced is massive tax increases across the board and huge cuts to public spending including the NHS. This will be a major problem for the UK as it fully depresses not just the markets but the public mood and punishes lower earners who are the ones who need support the most. I'd love to see the government cut the basic rate of VAT, higher taxes for higher earners, a windfall tax on non-renewable energy providers and more support for small businesses by reviewing business rates and giving more support in the struggle to get larger companies to pay vital smaller suppliers. I'm pretty sure I'll get what I expect rather than what I'd like.

As a womenswear boutique owner I'm expecting that the chancellor will increase the minimum wage and put up taxes. However, the high street needs more tailored help in the way of ongoing assistance with energy bills, ease of complexity with EU trade partners and encouraging people to support local businesses and shop on their high street.

Whilst we are expecting to see further plans to reduce inflation, and I believe we may see a raise in taxes to raise more funding. The big issue I am hoping to see addressed is more support for the housing market. With Help to Buy no longer being available - first-time buyers are desperate for further schemes to help them onto the property ladder. With the strain of recent rate increases and the general cost of living going up due to landlords needing to absorb their additional costs. We have spoken to many clients recently who are saving to buy their first home but are now being hit with rent increases. This is making it harder for buyers to save deposits and with prices still being high, interest rates are affecting affordability. I think support for the housing market and especially first-time buyers will instill confidence in those who are hoping to get onto the ladder soon, especially in a time of constant doom and gloom in the media. First-time buyers need positivity and know that they have something to work towards, which hopefully the autumn statement will give us a glimpse of.

If Truss and Kwarteng went too far and too fast in the direction of tax cuts; my concern is that we are about to see the same but in the opposite direction. This will stifle businesses, people's incomes and limit the economy's ability to recover. I think what businesses need is some stability to be able to make plans and a clear future vision from Sunak and Hunt, which encourages investment.

The easiest route to balance the books with the lowest political cost is the stealth tax. This means freezing tax free allowances for income tax, inheritance tax and capital gains tax and letting inflation increase the government's tax take without increasing the tax rate as such. I expect to see lots of this on Thursday. We may also see measures designed to steal Labour's thunder, such as a windfall tax on electricity generators and scrapping the non-domicile status. What I would like to see, is a simpler and fairer tax system for all, one that taxes wealth, land, property and capital gains, protects the vulnerable, and raises enough to pay for increased investment in education, health and infrastructure. A system that can turn the UK into a country like Sweden. Is that too much to ask?

The Chancellor has been clearly signposting increases to personal taxes through the freezing of tax bands, and lowering the entry level to bring more people into the additional rate band. Pension allowances also appear to be on his hit list, which is usually a happy hunting ground when bolstering personal tax revenues. He is also expected to increase corporation tax up to 25%, which will hit a lot of smaller businesses hard on top of the problems caused by astronomical energy prices, rising interest rates, mounting business rates and increasing staff costs. It looks like business owners and entrepreneurs are being hit from all sides. I hope that Entrepreneurs Relief and capital gains tax rates are not affected so there is still encouragement for people to take risks, create value and ultimately be properly rewarded for it. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, meaning that the Chancellor needs to tread carefully if he is to avoid pulling the country in to a deep and long recession.

The Government has some tough decisions to make to steady the economy, and cuts to public spending alongside tax increases, are looking very likely in this week’s Autumn Statement. We need to learn from previous rounds of austerity; these measures alone don’t create conditions for businesses to grow. These steps will need to be accompanied by measures to support and stimulate spending, both from consumers and businesses. The health of businesses, and the economy, depend on it. What the economy desperately needs now, to flatten and shorten the recession, is for consumer and business spending to continue to flow and help support other businesses. With one hand the Government will serve tax increases, but with the other they need to help spark and create confidence in the wider economy - either through special initiatives or properly financed support schemes.

The Big Freeze in personal allowances looks nailed on. This is a cynical ploy, with inflation in double digits but will allow Sunak to claim he's stuck to the Conservatives' manifesto promise to not raise income tax, VAT or National Insurance. I don't expect there to be any good news - my main hope is that they keep their hands off peoples' pensions. There's enough mistrust and confusion as it is - why would anyone save for retirement if the rules keep changing.

I can't wait to find out how we are all going to be poorer and that there's no plan to actually make life better, reduce our exposure the next time fossil fuel prices go through the roof or deal with the impending climate catastrophe.

The technocratic Jeremy Hunt has taken to reversing Liz Truss's mini-budget with the air of a grim reaper. But I don't sense that he understands we can't simply tax everyone more to pay down the debt. That will never work, we need radical growth measures instead so that debt falls as a percentage of GDP. For all her mistakes in delivery, the broad thrust of Truss' growth plan was a good one. I'm not sure Hunt has the imagination to reshape the economy. I'd like to see a real, determined effort to crack down on corporate tax evasion, particularly offshore. If that means doubling or tripling the size of HMRC so be it. It's completely unfair that we're all as individuals paying more tax because of the avarice of others. Directors who indulge in this practice should be imprisoned, face massive individual fines and be struck off from ever running a company again. The corporation tax hike to 25% will only make the problem worse and should be reversed The high street could be supported by implementing an e-commerce transaction tax to level the playing field between online and bricks and mortar. What I expect to see is huge tax hikes, years of more austerity and policies to prop up house prices at their currently insane levels. For the love of God no more Help to Buy, or as it should be called, Help for Housebuilders (to sell properties at much higher prices than they'd otherwise be able to). It doesn't seem to have occurred to the government that high house prices and rents are a major part of the reason we're in this economic mess.

Any of the options that are expected will hit smaller landlords and business owners in the same way - the outlook isn't pretty. Changes to Capital Gains Tax by aligning the CGT rates to income tax. This will mean an increase from 10% to 20% for basic rate taxpayers and from 20% to as high as 45% for higher and additional rate taxpayers. The other option may be to reduce the CGT exempt amount from £12,300. Landlords not only have stress rates and mortgage rates to contend with but they may now be hit harder should they feel forced to sell their rental properties. Changes to the dividend allowance. To either reduce the tax free allowance (currently £2,000), or scrap it all together. Dividends are a popular way to create income from investments and for business owners alike; changes to the allowance would mean paying up to £175, £675 or £787 more in tax for basic, higher and additional rate taxpayers respectively. Changes to the taxation of dividend income will be a huge blow for smaller business owners. Who, if they made it through the pandemic, will likely be struggling on through the cost of living crisis, and will now have a reduction in income to contend with. Maybe they are lucky and own a buy to let property they can sell to get them through, unless of course the CGT is changed meaning this option puts them further in to debt. I would like the Government to scrap Stamp Duty for homes under £500,000. This demonstrated that, even during a pandemic, it could keep the property market going. With factors affecting the mortgage market – increased stress rates and interest rates meaning that buy-to-let and residential borrowers will need a higher deposit, we need a positive move like this to prevent a crash. Unfortunately, a move like this looks unlikely. The current outlook means many existing borrowers can not borrow what they were able to previously and may be forced to sell. The bigger landlords will be rubbing their hands together as they pick up cheap properties! Keep the triple lock in place. Scrapping this would hit pensioners that are already struggling with the cost of living and may prove too politically damaging for the government.

The rich will get even richer and the poor will get even poorer! This is the stark reality facing millions of people up and down the country and I don't think for ordinary folk it will be positive news to make their lives better off than it is today. I expect the windfall tax on energy companies to be extended, threshold for 45p tax rate to drop to £125,000 and an announcement on dividend tax. Hunt will also announce huge cuts across Government departments. HS2 should be scrapped. State benefits should be increased inline with inflation.

Expectation - A plan on how to help bring the cost of living and other associated costs down in a smooth curve What I would like to see - Consideration to the impact in the short, the mid and long term for whatever changes are made.

I expect that after the Autumn Statement most people will have even less disposable income than they do now. Between freezes on income tax thresholds, increases to council tax and possible VAT rises many millions of families are going to feel the squeeze as we head into winter. I would like to see help being offered to those who are already struggling to make ends meet. Not only do we need targeted financial support for those most at risk, but we also need increased investment in mental health services to cope with the rise of financially-driven stress and anxiety.

The majority of the property market would like to have some clarity on what the government plans to do as it feels the property market is in decline. Interest rates have caused landlords to sell, but have also deterred first-time buyers from entering the market as they have been saving and budgeting their monthly expenses according to the rates of the past six months. This has also stopped new landlords from entering the market, causing an issue of supply of rental properties. Tenants aren't leaving due to a backlog in the courts since March 2020. Due to this, rents have increased over 20% in some areas of East London. The fear of landlords at the moment is tenants will have to choose between paying their rent or paying for other essentials such as rising food costs or rising energy bills. So essentially, some clarity on how they're planning to fix the issues which have arisen due to the rise of inflation and interest rates. First-Time buyers need more help than ever. Landlords need help. Businesses need help. What confidence can the government give us?

We are going to hear about more austerity measures that will impact public services until 2025, and a lot of tax hikes to take control of national debt. What we would like to include in the Autumn Statement are two things. First, an assurance that the housing sector will be stabilized through 'concrete' programs that will support new affordable house development, and a better replacement of the Help-to-Buy scheme instead of the less popular Lifetime ISA that comes with a high penalty and a £450,000 price cap. Second, Sunak must outline his plans for getting struggling enterprises caught by the cost-of-living crisis out of their current situation. There should be programs that will raise enterprise productivity swiftly and alternative measures since Hunt repealed IR35 legislation that could have been necessary to mitigate in part the shortage of available workers.