Following months of speculation, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, yesterday delivered her second Autumn
Budget
The principal measures are set out in our full briefing which
can be found here.
Against a backdrop of elusive economic growth, increasing public
debt and stubbornly high inflation, and alongside the
Government's manifesto pledge not to increase National
Insurance, rates of Income Tax or VAT for "working
people", the Chancellor was left with little room for
manoeuvre. Rather than pull any of the big (and simpler) tax
"levers", the Chancellor opted for a relatively large
number of smaller, in many ways more complex, measures, principally
raising revenue from individuals. Key amongst these was a
three-year extension to the freeze on personal tax thresholds
which, coupled with inflationary wage growth, will see increasing
numbers of workers drawn into higher tax bands. The capping of
National Insurance benefits on pension salary
