If you were a senior MP in the Conservative party, what would be on your Autumn Statement wishlist?
It appears that one item near the top of the list is abolishing stamp duty on the sale of homes for less than £500,000. This would cost the Treasury around £2.4bn a year.
This is featured on a wishlist of £16bn of tax cuts an influential group of senior Tory MPs would like to see in the Autumn Statement next month.
They also call for a big increase to the 40p higher rate income tax band, so fewer people pay higher rate tax, and a radical overhaul of the VAT system.
The MPs want the 40p income tax band to rise from £41,450 to £50,000, at a cost of £5bn a year. They argue that higher rate income tax was only supposed to catch the “very rich”, but now includes six times the number of taxpayers as 30 years ago.
These calls come from the The Free Enterprise Group of 42 Conservative MPs, including Treasury financial secretary Sajid Javid and Treasury select committee chairman Andrew Tyrie.
Stamp duty is clearly a financial priority for the Tories at the moment, as another group of MPs wants it to be paid by buyers rather than sellers in the future.
This follows predictions from the Council of Mortgage Lenders that stamp duty revenues to the Treasury will rise by around 50% over the next five years.
It will be interesting to see if any items from this wishlist make it into the Autumn Statement on 5th December 2013.
Here at Informed Choice, we will be covering the Autumn Statement with a live blog looking at any personal finance implications. We also aim to publish our Autumn Statement briefing note for clients and professional connections by 5pm on the day of the Statement itself.
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