Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s next Budget will be on 6 March 2024, the Treasury confirmed today.
In what is expected to see the start of electioneering in earnest, a report today said scrapping inheritance tax would be one of the things to be announced.
Hunt has commissioned the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) to prepare economic and fiscal forecasts alongside the Chancellor’s speech.
According to the Telegraph, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ordered a “gear change” on tax to reconnect with Tory voters and put clear distance between the party and Labour.
Cuts to the upfront costs of a house for first-time buyers are also being considered, Levelling up Secretary Michael Gove told the Times, while reductions to income tax through raising the threshold for both the 20% and 40% brackets are also on the agenda.
Sunak’s government has been criticised by right-wing Tories for the tax burden imposed to pay for the cost of Covid support measures.
Britain’s tax burden is the highest for almost 70 years and Tory activists have been demanding that change ahead of the election, which has to be called by January 2025 at the latest.
Cutting inheritance tax would cost around £8 billion, but would go down well with many supporters who see it as a double tax as it takes a chunk of assets they say have been taxed already.