Healey ditches 'bat s**t crazy' CGT hike and mansion tax extension after Treasury warns both would cost billions
John Healey and Andy Burnham share a pint. The IFS has warned Chancellor John Healey his 28 October Budget risks becoming a "work of fiction" without credible measures to plug a £35 billion spending gap.UK banks already pay tax equivalent to 46 per cent of profits, against 28 per cent in New York, PwC figures show — as Lloyds and rivals urge John Healey to hold fire ahead of the October 28 Budget.
Chancellor John Healey has scrapped proposals to lower the mansion tax threshold to £1.5 million and abandoned plans to bring capital gains tax rates into line with income tax, after Treasury officials warned both policies would prove deeply counterproductive. HMRC estimates suggest a 10-point CGT rise alone would leave the Treasury more than £3.5 billion a year worse off as investors took steps to minimise their liability. Healey still faces a £35 billion black hole ahead of his October 28 Budget.
The CGT equalisation plan was reportedly described internally as 'bat s**t crazy' — the same idea Defence Secretary Wes Streeting had publicly championed as 'a wealth tax that works'.
Stepping back from the mansion tax extension means roughly 145,000 homes worth between £1.5 million and £2 million are no longer in the firing line, among them nearly one in ten London properties currently on the market.
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith says Healey is in 'headlong retreat', warning that his Budget kite-flying has already damaged economic confidence and jobs.
