If you are a contractor in the UK then you probably want to pay less tax. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there will be a tax cut any time soon.
That is according to the chancellor Philip Hammond, who recently banged his fist down on the table and demanded…NO tax cut for contractors!
This news will no doubt come as a shock to the millions of contractors, freelancers, gig workers, and self employed employed people around the country, because if you remember, it was only a few months ago that Mr Hammond said we would do “whatever we have to do” when Brexit takes place in order to stay competitive.
Many experts thought he meant a tax drop would be on the cards, in a bid to attract highly skilled contractors to relocate on a permanent basis to the UK, but it appears this is not what he meant.
Instead, there will be no tax cuts and no attempts to get one over on our European neighbours. It actually seems that everybody is getting on really well right now, as the Brexit negotiation take place and the European leaders try to work this whole thing out.
So everybody is friends at the moment and it’s all smiles…but how long will that last? Not long in my opinion, and if our soon to be ex European partners try to pull a fast one in the negotiation room, then it wouldn’t surprise me if Philip Hammond starts to talk about tax cuts once again.
Is it really fair that the chancellor is using UK contractors as pawns though? A few months ago he got everyone’s hopes up with all this talk about less tax, and then, without a moments hesitation he changes his mind and acts like nothing ever happened.
Meanwhile, the millions of hard working self employed people are let down once again. Is it any wonder that the Conservatives lost votes at the recent General Election? I don’t think so.
It had a lot to do with the senseless tax grab the chancellor tried to get away with if you ask me, and that is why many people stayed away or voted elsewhere at the election.
Well, if people were not impressed with the tax grab, something tells me those people (and even more) are not going to be impressed about the chancellor promising a tax cut and then backtracking only a few months later.
A tax cut might have been a bit of pie in the sky anyway, with one political correspondent saying that due to the Conservatives losing seats in Parliament then getting a bill passed for less tax would probably be a struggle.
Wouldn’t it be great that instead of politicians, we had contractors and business owners in Parliament making the decisions? I’m sure the tax rate would quickly go down, and millions of self employed would enjoy filling out their tax return every year.
