In perhaps the most febrile political environment in recent
memory, Philip Hammond delivered his 'end of austerity'
Budget. What transpired is that although austerity might be coming
to an end, 'discipline' remains and in spending terms
discipline looks quite similar to austerity.
Among the spending promises and bad jokes, there was a good deal
for individuals to note. Key in this was Philip Hammond's
statement that 'I didn't come into politics to put up
taxes'.
Property tax
1. SDLT surcharge for
non-residents
As Theresa May announced at the Conservative Party conference,
there is a desire to introduce a 1% surcharge to the standard SDLT rates for purchases by non-residents in
order to raise funds to tackle homelessness. A Consultation will be
published in January 2019. It is unlikely this will lead to an
introduction of the surcharge while the UK is still in the EU,
however, given that it would be unlawful to discriminate against EU
nationals at least until
