Now that the BoE have confirmed another increase in Interest Rates of ¾%, the UK seems to be aping the USA by cranking the cost of money, in an attempt to bear down inflation, which at present is at circa 10%+.

Jeremy Hunt (caution: pronounce his surname with care!) is, by the looks of things, quite self-satisfied by trying to rescue the reins of fiscal responsibility by raising taxes and cutting government expenditure, in order to address the debt void created historically by the Covid issue, and presently, the underwriting of the energy crisis.

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Playing with Stamp Duty rates has been the pastime of many former Chancellors over the past 8 years, ever since the hapless Osborne decided to convert the system from a ‘slab-sided’ to a ‘sliced’ version in 2014. The rates at the higher end, particularly for people with more than one house and then more recently, of foreign origin, are now 17% and for a long while these changes resulted in a lower tax-take for the Treasury, quite apart from the distorting effect that it had on the number of sales which took place. Continue reading →