Category Archives: Tax

With Australian private health insurance premiums set to jump by 4.41%, will policies deliver more or just cost more?

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The biggest premium hike in 10 years prompts questions, as government incentives continue to drive people to take out cover merely to avoid tax penalties

The government has approved a 4.41% private health insurance premium rise from April – the largest hike in almost 10 years.

With consumers already grappling with cost-of-living pressures, including an interest rate rise earlier in February, more Australians are likely to be wondering whether keeping their private health insurance is worth it.

Melissa Davey is Guardian Australia’s medical editor

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People deriving income solely from state pension won’t be taxed, says chancellor

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Clarification creates prospect of two-tier system for retirees solely on new state pension and those on private schemes

People who rely only on their state pension for their income will not have to pay tax on it, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said, creating the prospect of a two-tier system for those in retirement.

The new state pension is poised to rise to £241.30 a week next April, putting the annual income for someone receiving the standard payment at £12,547 – just below the personal tax allowance of £12,570 a year.

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How Rachel Reeves’s budget was leaked 40 minutes early

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By the time the chancellor reached the dispatch box, the OBR had accidentally published its verdict in full online

Shortly before midday on Wednesday, a series of headlines about Rachel Reeves’s budget began appearing on the Reuters newswire, sending instant ripples though financial markets.

The details were jaw-dropping: they appeared to spell out the key policies of the chancellor’s budget more than 40 minutes before she was due to deliver them to a crowded Commons chamber.

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How Rachel Reeves’s budget was leaked 40 minutes early

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By the time the chancellor reached the dispatch box, the OBR had accidentally published its verdict in full online

Shortly before midday on Wednesday, a series of headlines about Rachel Reeves’s budget began appearing on the Reuters newswire, sending instant ripples though financial markets.

The details were jaw-dropping: they appeared to spell out the key policies of the chancellor’s budget more than 40 minutes before she was due to deliver them to a crowded Commons chamber.

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Treasury won’t cut threshold for higher rate income tax, say sources – UK politics live

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Fallout continues over budget income tax U-turn, with Treasury saying expected fiscal gap has dropped to £20bn

This is from Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, on the market reaction to the chancellor’s reported budget U-turn.

Investors will have 2 broad concerns about news that Chancellor won’t increase income tax rates

1. Does it signal less willingness to do politically difficult things

Britain’s long-term borrowing costs were sent soaring as reports suggested the latest U-turn would leave Rachel Reeves scrambling to fill a gaping black hole in the nation’s finances just two weeks before the 26 November budget.

Yields on 30-year UK government bonds, also known as gilts, jumped as much as 14 basis points in early trading, and the yield on 10-year gilts also shot up 12 basis points – rising the most since July.

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Superannuation tax changes: new rules have been proposed for your super – here’s what you need to know

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Major changes announced by Jim Chalmers include indexing superannuation balances to inflation and addition of a new threshold taxing balances between $3m and $10m

The Albanese government has dramatically rewritten its major tax policy, caving in to criticism on its controversial superannuation tax plan by raising thresholds and slashing the amount of money it will rake in.

After a long period of sustained attack from politicians and lobby groups, the government has conceded defeat on all major criticisms, with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, saying the policy rewrites would “better target superannuation concessions”.

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Widow of man conned out of pension savings to lose half the compensation to tax

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Robert Dewar’s widow, Susan, is a leading campaigner over multimillion-pound Norton Motorcycles fraud

The family of a deceased man, who was conned out of his retirement savings after investing in the Norton Motorcycles pension scam, is to lose almost half the subsequent compensation award because of a little-known tax rule.

A long-running battle to win an award from the Fraud Compensation Fund (FCF) meant that Robert Dewar’s pension was not reimbursed until 2024, five years after his death at the age of 64.

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Tory plan to abolish stamp duty ‘will benefit London and the wealthiest the most’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Voting in the Labour deputy leadership election opens today. Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader, is seen as the favourite and, as Jessica Elgot reports, Powell told supporters yesterday that, if she is elected, she will use the post to argue for changes in the way the government is operating. “We can’t sugarcoat the fact that things aren’t going well,” she said.

Powell is no longer a government minister and, if she is elected deputy leader, she will do the job from the backbenches. In an interview on Newsnight last night, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary standing against Powell, said a Powell victory would be “destabilising” for the party. She said:

[Electing Powell] risks destabilising the party … we best achieve what we need to do together when we have those fierce conversations, including disagreements, behind closed doors.

Members need to understand that there’s a potential challenge around all of that – that if you’re not inside when the big decisions are being made, you’re not at that table, you’re not in those conversations.

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Nigel Farage urged to clarify whether he saved tax on Essex constituency home

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Labour and Lib Dems say Reform leader has questions to answer on who paid for £885,000 property owned by his partner

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for Nigel Farage to clarify whether he saved tax on a house in his constituency, after a BBC investigation questioned whether his partner did, as Farage has said, buy the home with her own money.

The Guardian first reported in May that the house in Clacton, which Farage initially said he had bought himself, is in fact wholly owned by Laure Ferrari, his long-term partner.

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Treasury targeting inheritance tax reforms to help plug UK deficit

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Exclusive: Chancellor also looking at tweaks to capital gains tax to try to bridge £40bn-plus spending gap before budget

The Treasury is looking at ways to raise more money from inheritance tax amid growing pressure on the country’s finances ahead of the autumn budget, sources have told the Guardian.

Officials have been tasked with examining whether tightening rules on the gifting of money and assets could be one way of addressing a gap between revenue and spending that is estimated to reach more than £40bn.

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Adani promised Australia billions from its Carmichael mine but it hasn’t paid a cent in tax. How did we get here?

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The coalmine generated millions in revenue in its early days but recorded an operating loss – a pattern that would repeat at scale

It was entirely foreseeable, and has resulted in billions of dollars in forgone revenue for Australia.

But just how did policymakers fail to extract a single cent in company tax from Adani’s Carmichael coalmine, even though it opened during the start of a commodity price boom?

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Frasers Group sales fall amid ‘challenging’ luxury market and retreat from gaming

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Pre-tax profits fall 24% despite rise in Sports Direct sales, driven by closures of House of Fraser and Game stores

A “challenging” luxury market and retreat from gaming have prompted a fall in sales and profits at Mike Ashley’s Frasers.

The group, which is majority owned by the billionaire former Newcastle United owner, said sales fell by 7.4% to £4.7bn and pre-tax profits slid by 24% to £379.5m as it closed some of its House of Fraser department stores and Game video game shops.

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Keir Starmer should be bold and consider a wealth tax, Neil Kinnock says

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Former Labour leader says government needs a better narrative and risks being bogged down by ‘imposed limitations’

Keir Starmer’s government is suffering from a “lack of narrative” about what it is trying to achieve and should be more fiscally bold and consider a tax on wealth, Neil Kinnock has said.

The former Labour leader said too many of the government’s achievements were being overshadowed. A year after a landslide election win, the party is struggling in the polls and has U-turned on policies including cuts to winter fuel payments and welfare.

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No 10 won’t say if fuel payments U-turn will be implemented in time for this winter – UK politics live

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Downing Street unable to say how many more pensioners would receive winter fuel payments or when changes would come in

YouGov has published more details of its polling on the electorate’s relationship with Labour, as covered in the Sky News report mentioned earlier. (See 10.06am.)

It shows that Reform UK supporters are most likely to think that Labour is trying hard to appeal to them – but least likely to say they would respond positively. Only 4% of Reform UK supporters say they would consider voting Labour, the poll says.

I ask her if there will be any changes as demanded by MPs

She says while “we want to make sure we address all of people’s concerns, but stressed: “whatever the fiscal position that the government faces, I think the system as a whole needs to change.”

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No 10 won’t say if fuel payments U-turn will be implemented in time for this winter – UK politics live

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Downing Street unable to say how many more pensioners would receive winter fuel payments or when changes would come in

YouGov has published more details of its polling on the electorate’s relationship with Labour, as covered in the Sky News report mentioned earlier. (See 10.06am.)

It shows that Reform UK supporters are most likely to think that Labour is trying hard to appeal to them – but least likely to say they would respond positively. Only 4% of Reform UK supporters say they would consider voting Labour, the poll says.

I ask her if there will be any changes as demanded by MPs

She says while “we want to make sure we address all of people’s concerns, but stressed: “whatever the fiscal position that the government faces, I think the system as a whole needs to change.”

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Has UK-India trade deal ‘sold out British workers’ as Farage and Badenoch claim?

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Row over exemption of national insurance contributions for Indian short-term workers overshadows deal

A multibillion-pound free trade agreement with India has long been touted as a big Brexit boon.

Cheaper clothes and shoes for British shoppers, a huge market for scotch whisky producers and luxury carmakers, and billions of pounds worth of extra trade are among the benefits of the agreement, which was finalised this week.

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Dutton says Labor’s super plan is a ‘quasi inheritance tax’. What’s going on?

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Many countries impose a form of inheritance tax on deceased estates, but does Albanese’s policy fit the bill?

Peter Dutton has described Labor’s plan to reduce tax breaks on superannuation balances larger than $3m as a “quasi inheritance tax”.

The description was made days out from polling day, as the major parties tore apart their opponent’s policies in a last-ditch effort to win votes.

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EVs to cost more under a Coalition government, after Dutton’s apparent backflip on popular tax break

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Polestar says Dutton’s move shows ‘a complete lack of understanding of the significant cost-of-living, climate and health benefits of EVs’

Electric vehicles would cost more under a Coalition government, after Peter Dutton confirmed he would scrap a popular tax break for EV drivers in an apparent backflip that has caused confusion and anger among clean car advocates.

The initiative, which was introduced by the Albanese government in 2022, has meant if a person buys an EV priced under $91,387 through a novated lease program via their employer (when a lease is paid off through pre-taxed salary deductions) they do not have to pay fringe benefits tax (FBT) – even if the car is only for personal use.

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Wealthiest English private schools spend below 6% on means-tested bursaries, research finds

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Data shows 200 independent schools devote fraction of fee income to support disadvantaged pupils based on family income

England’s wealthiest private schools devote only a fraction of their income towards means-tested bursaries, according to research that undermines claims that adding VAT to school fees would decimate support for poorer pupils.

The Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF), a thinktank campaigning for greater equality and transparency among independent schools, gathered data from more than 200 leading schools and found they spent less than 6% of their total fee income on supporting pupils based on family income.

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Ten things we learned from Anthony Albanese’s speech at the Labor party campaign launch

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The PM addressed a crowd of 500 people in Perth, spruiking new policies on housing and tax deductions, celebrating WA and invoking Donald Trump. Here’s what you may have missed

Labor’s election campaign launch in Perth was headlined by a $10bn housing pledge, a vow to help first home buyers and a new $1,000 “automatic” tax deduction for all workers.

It also featured a former prime minister, gags about rugby league and more than a few digs at Peter Dutton alongside Labor’s claims that he is copying Donald Trump’s political playbook.

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