Nick Latimer, tax partner in Crowe’s Cheltenham office, said: “The 2% cut to NIC for employees is larger than anticipated, and much more of a crowd pleaser than the rumoured inheritance tax reform. The Chancellor was silent on this along with capital gains tax and non doms. Has this been kicked down the road until we get closer to an election? There were still no changes to the personal allowance and income tax bands, meaning that we will still see the continuing impact of fiscal drag. This loosening of fiscal policy could also prevent any further reductions to interest rates. Any benefit of tax cuts could therefore be removed pretty swiftly for those families with mortgage payments to make.”
