Ladies' day
ONE change already booked for Budget day must puncture house inflation. That is Nigel Lawson's most chivalrous legacy separate taxation for married women. Few of them, I suppose, will apply their new- found fiscal freedom to buying a house of their own, and they will not get any encouragement from the taxman if they do. Far more attractive and tax-effective takers for investment open up on every side — Personal Equity Plans, Business Expansion Scheme offers (do be selective, madam) and even the stock market, given a reasonable allowance of tax-free income and exemption from Capital Gains Tax. We might, under the ladies' leadership, pick up a preference for owning assets which can help the country earn its living — and no one could say that of a house.
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