More pep for Peps
I HATE to spoil a good party, but the stone-cold certain bet of the Budget speech is that Mr Lawson will congratulate himself on having created a nation of shareholders. He should then be told that, throughout his Chancellorship, the private investor has been a net seller of shares. Millions of newcomers may hold a handful of shares in British Gas or Telecom, but their purch- ases are outweighed by others' sales. So far does the tax system still penalise direct investment, as against indirect ownership through life assurance and most of all through pension funds. Personal Equity Plans, Mr Lawson's innovation for 1986, are designed to give the individual some part of the institutions' privileges. I hope Mr Lawson will now reinforce his success (what, for example, is the point of a rule which forbids minors from having Peps, when there is nothing to stop them owning shares?) and I hope, too, that he will strike down the Pep fund managers who impose a surcharge on clients who want to exercise their rights as shareholders. That negates the direct ownership which Peps are there to provide.
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