Philip Hammond is prepared to U-turn – Now put the pressure on to reverse Section 24!

Well done, Barry. I've adapted your email as follows:

Dear Wayne

Can you please pass on the following letter to the PM and Chancellor as a matter of urgency?

Dear Theresa May and Philip Hammond

I see that today that you have stated that you will abide by the letter and the spirit of the Conservative Manifesto and stick to the promise that income tax will not be increased.

I therefore request that in accordance with your statements to Parliament today you repeal s.24 of the Finance (no.2) Act 2015 as it breaks the pledge, introducing a new tax regime for 'individual' landlords with effective income tax rates of 60%, 70% and in some cases in excess of 100% of actual profits. Please do not repeat the idea that we had a 'generous tax relief' and that you have levelled the playing field as this is pure sophistry. Section 24 massively increases the income tax bills of thousands of landlords and this is going to have a devastating effect on tenants and landlords alike at the exact time when you should be incentivising the sector.

Now would be the ideal opportunity to quietly repeal this as it breaks the Manifesto pledge in a far more extreme way than the NICs policy did.

For more detail on what this means I refer you to my report below.

Yours sincerely
Dr Rosalind Beck
Private portfolio landlord

Today I launch my comprehensive report on Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 | Property118.com

Today I launch my comprehensive report on Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 | Property118.com
Property118 Forum for Private Landlords

Tory MPs forced the cancellation of the NIC increase because it broke the Manifesto promise. Hammond wrote “It is very important to me and to the Prime Minister that we are compliant not just with the letter, but also the spirit, of the commitments that were made”.

Section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 breaks exactly the same Conservative manifesto pledge - ”We will commit to no increases in VAT, National Insurance contributions or Income Tax”

I know a landlord whose tax will more than triple, and leave her without enough to live on. You can find the details on page 12 of Dr Ros Becks’s report, which you can get here: https://media.property118.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/6G0YKMd1Wf.pdf

The increase in my friend’s income tax will amount to 60% of her income, so her tax rate will be 83%.

The NIC increase was described as an unforced error. Caroline’s increase will be 60 times as big.

S 24 forces landlords to evict tenants and make them homeless, for councils to put in “temporary” accommodation at greater cost. Homelessness is going to increase enormously. That is an unforced disaster.

If Theresa May and Philip Hammond are sincere about keeping to the letter and spirit of the Manifesto, they must repeal S 24.

In doing so they will prevent further damage to the supply and price of rented accommodation, and they will reduce the damage that George Osborne inflicted on their Party’s credibility and electability through S 24 . It will be win-win for them.

Here's a thought for u that feel it may be worth telling whoever:

The new MP rule where u can't employ your wife or partner.

If u read the small print, it only affects new MP's. NOT existing ones.
Those who already employ their wife are allowed to carry on with the old
existing rules.

So why when bringing clause 24 in for Landlords, why couldn't they use the
same rules -Only for NEW people or NEW loans?

Blinking good topical point Mick

Although we all live in hope this U turn has cost Spreadsheet Phil two billion. He needs to get that from somewhere....beware the Ides of March....

Reply to the comment left by "Gary Nock" at "16/03/2017 - 09:15":

I dunno scrapping international aid £12 billion saved and rising, actually leave the EU and leave the EU quickly £10 billion, raise corporation tax just a touch and actually go after multinationals (if what is said is true).. But what you say is true if he scraps section 24 god knows what other crap policy would replace it. Whether it be education/health or housing I am convinced when a politician is given a list of options they will always choose the worst!!

Reply to the comment left by "Tobias Nightingale" at "16/03/2017 - 09:21":

Just stopping the diversion of overseas aid into corrupt Government coffers/corrupt Government officials/etc would easily save £2bn without hurting those that we want to help.

There isn't really any need to reduce Corporation Tax to 17% over the next few years either. I don't know what this would yield.

Received this reply:

I’ll send your note but I don’t think they’ll see it that way since if people’s incomes were the benchmark there would be no possibility of any changes at all.

He doesn’t quite understand “No Income Tax rises” means “no rises in Income Tax” – simples (except for politicians so it seems)

I now have to wait 4 weeks for another “standard” Treasury piece of sophistry.

With comments like his, it makes double glazing and used car salesmen look whiter than white.

Reply to the comment left by "Barry Fitzpatrick" at "16/03/2017 - 10:29":

To be fair to double glazing and used car sales men they do operate in the real ecomany and they spiel is more direct unlike politicians who by and large sell their junk via the tv screen.

My feeling is the Tory leadership wish they had not won the last election so then they could have condemned labour to get in again. That and what we are witnessing (with approval by tory leadership) is the slow motion journey back to the 60'70's taxation levels which they will excuse because of the 'debt' when they could easily cut the vaste waste that still exists (contrary to what say where there is next to none left). After all when you think about it they justified in part the high taxes of the 50's/60's/70/s/ on the debt from World War 2. Could be wrong though. Its possible did/have miscalculated things though.

Reply to the comment left by "Tobias Nightingale" at "16/03/2017 - 11:00":

I apologise to all double glazing salesmen and used car salesmen for implying that they are in any way as shameless and self-serving as politicians are.

These Tory politicians (probably all politicians) are totally shameless and without any kind of conscience. My MP said to my face that he had nothing to do with Government policy, but had no answer when asked him if he’d voted in favour of this measure (which I knew he had) without which this measure would not now be on the statute books.