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Brokers - what would you like to see in the mini Budget?

Journalist: John Fitzsimons, Freelance

ended 20. September 2022

Morning brokers

This week Kwasi Kwarteng, the new Chancellor, will be delivering a mini-Budget, or ‘fiscal event’ as the Government is calling it.

What would you like to see included in there? What measures would make the biggest difference to your clients and to your own business?

Any and all thoughts very welcome!

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Samuel Mather-HolgateVerified
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
I am pleased to see Kwarteng reverse the tax increases on business that Sunak brought in. However, it is clear that those with the broadest shoulders aren't paying their fair share of tax. Therefore, to distribute the tax burden more fairly I would tip the balance on income tax. He could ensure those on lower incomes keep more of their money, but increasing the personal allowance substaically, say to £20,000. To pay for this, he could lower the threshold at which you start paying 45% income tax. This would really help whilst low and middle income households are finding the cost of living really tough.
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Imran HussainVerified
Director at Harmony Financial Services
I would like to see more incentives for small businesses, especially around the cost of utilities as the current plan only protects businesses for 6 months, so it just pretty much means we could have mass unemployment come summer 2023, I would also like to see something to incentivise movement in the property market scrap stamp duty or look at capital gains so the boomers are encouraged to sell property as we simply can not build enough to meet demand.
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Mark Robinson0
Managing Director at Albion Forest Mortgages
I am not sure it would be announced in the budget. However, the one thing the government could do to help the housing crisis would be a no negative equity guarantee for lenders so they can do 100% mortgages. This could even be on New Build properties to help bolster the New Build sector. The biggest barrier for entry for most people is saving very very large deposits whilst paying equally high rents. With more and more landlords selling up, there are fewer rental properties available and we will reach a crunch point eventually.
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Keith Hood0
Mortgage and Protection advisor at Warners Financial Services
The Private Rental Sector is in crisis. Following the consistent battering this Government has given landlords they are now leaving the sector in increasing numbers. Add to that huge hikes in mortgage costs for landlords as they gradually come off of low fixed rates and their option seems to be to sell up or increase rents even further. The main losers in this equation are the tenants who face further rent rises and increasingly a lack of available housing. The only way to reverse this very worrying trend is to reinstate the tax relief previously withdrawn for individual landlords, although that's highly unlikely.
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Graham CoxVerified
Director at Bridging Hub
Aside from measures to boost the economy, I think Kwarteng should provide local authorities the ability to finance a huge increase in high quality social housing. We need to get building. Rents are extortionate, and councils need to take up the slack as private landlords abandon the sector. I'd also abolish Right to Buy. It's been a disaster, as there's been no incentive to replace housing stock. Modular housing built off-site could be a big part of the solution. It's fast to build, economical, good quality and drastically cuts emissions. So I'd introduce tax breaks for that type of building company to provide some much-needed competition for legacy house builders. Finally, to help lower property prices, I'd increase taxes significantly for developers who hoard land without building on it, second homeowners, foreign buyers and owners of unoccupied property. If we can sensibly lower property prices in real terms over a period of time, it would benefit everyone. The current madness is not sustainable.
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Alastair HoyneVerified
CEO, Finanze Capital at Finanze Capital
More than 600,000 mortgage holders who have taken advantage of two-year deals due to the stamp duty holiday now have to confront the painful terms of higher repayment costs when they start refinancing by 2023. This will be exacerbated by the Bank of England’s interest rate hike to curb the country’s soaring inflation. What I look forward to hearing from the Chancellor is a definite policy mix that would introduce alternative measures to the stamp duty holiday and provide opportunities for fundamental reforms that encourage growth in transactions as well as support credit-constrained households that are heavily exposed to income volatility.