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08 November 2024 / James Ward
Issue: 8093 / Categories: Opinion , Inheritance tax , Tax
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Budget fallout

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James Ward on why the families of business owners, landowners, and those with pension assets will be the most heavily impacted by the recent Budget measures

In her first budget, and subsequent media comments, our new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has shown that she views inherited wealth as fair game for increased taxation. With over a trillion pounds worth of assets set to be transferred to the younger generations over the next few years, this is not an altogether surprising strategy for her to follow. Politically she sees this money as unearned and giving the recipients an unfair advantage in life.

Taxing matters

While the changes to CGT are less than many business owners feared (albeit the entrepreneurs relief tax rate disproportionally increases over the next couple of years), their businesses will be clobbered with the increase in the Minimum Wage and Employers National Insurance during the company’s lifetime and by the loss of full IHT business relief for asset transfer on death. Some owners may even decide it makes more sense to liquidate the business rather than it face a significant hit at that point and

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Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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