Member Article

Chancellor must radically increase ISA allowance to £25k - True Potential

The Chancellor has been urged to help savers and increase the tax-free allowance for ISAs to £25,000, ahead of his autumn statement this week.

David Harrison, managing partner at financial services firm True Potential, says the move would boost savers and help the economy to grow even more quickly.

“The Chancellor must radically extend the stocks and shares ISA allowance to £25k per year to encourage people to save in a way that adds value. More investors would also help to fuel growth,” he said.

“As a nation two thirds of us are not saving enough for retirement and often those savings that do exist are in products that add little or no value. We recently surveyed over 2,000 people across the UK and just two per cent are placing their funds in products that consistently beat inflation, meaning most savers are adding no significant value to their investment.

“Extra support for savers could be funded by taxing borrowing on private, but not owner-occupied, property.

“One particular challenge in the North East is that as a region, we are too reliant on too few big employers. George Osborne must focus on providing greater support for SMEs in order to deliver overall prosperity.

“The biggest difference Osborne could make would be to extend entrepreneurs’ relief to encourage new business start-ups. Rather than give money up front for start-ups that could fail, a tax relief break provides a medium to long-term incentive and rewards success.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by True Potential LLP .