Secondly, charging NI in some fashion on dividends voted from their own companies, underneath a ceiling level of perhaps £50,000 pa, for employee shareholders.
His preference would be to merge income tax and NI into a single band of income tax rates, removing, he says, the current dishonesty and most ways of cheating the system.
Mr Starmer says: “There might have to be lower charges for persons reaching state pension age but not necessarily. These new rate bands could be set to accommodate the forever increasing cost of healthcare and care of the elderly.
“Tax saving investments such as pension premiums for the younger persons and Isas for the older age groups could continue though there is an opportunity to merge the two in a similar fashion to Lifetime Isas plus a few more bells and whistles.
"Tax relief on life cover up to retirement would also be an important factor. Corporation Tax could remain at similar levels though a potentially refundable income tax credit on dividends should be reinstated to put right another long standing wrong.
“Our current Chancellor is in an excellent position to make 'taxes' fairer and simpler in one fell swoop. Such a level playing field would in theory diminish the importance of the financial adviser, however, in reality it would change the focus and remove the easy pickings and we wouldn`t have to keep apologising to our clients for the shortcomings of politicians, as far as taxes are concerned, at least.”
Mr Timms adds: “It is not an unjust statement. The measures announced by the Government may be far from perfect, but considering that there was a very short timeframe for these to be designed, announced and implemented, they are generous measures which have already seen hundreds of thousands of people offered more stability and a guaranteed income source in what are unprecedented and unstable circumstances.
“If the UK wants to have a system which offers support to all its residents in times of need, then it must be a system to which all residents contribute fairly and equally; if nothing else, because as the current climate has shown us – we cannot predict what is around the corner and when we may need to lean on that support system.”
ima.jacksonobot@ft.com
