Budget 2024 – live: IFS warns Hunt ‘planned’ new tax rules could backfire as chancellor ‘to freeze fuel duty’
Jeremy Hunt has been warned that scrapping the non-dom tax status in his upcoming Budget could backfire, as reports suggest the chancellor is poised to keep fuel duty frozen for another year.
As support for the Tories drops to its lowest level on record, the chancellor will be hoping to woo voters with tax giveaways in Wednesday’s budget, despite forecasters reportedly warning he has less headroom to do so than initially hoped.
Labour is bracing for Mr Hunt to steal its policy of ending non-dom status, which Sir Keir Starmer’s party has said it would use to fund much of its spending in government.
But the Institute for Fiscal Studies urged Mr Hunt to “tread carefully”, warning that scrapping the tax status – which lets foreign nationals living in Britain avoid paying tax on overseas earnings – risks driving wealth businesspeople out of the country, which the chancellor himself has also argued in the past.
Mr Hunt said on Sunday that he aims to build on last autumn’s reduction in national insurance contributions, but will only cut taxes in a responsible and “prudent” way.
