Free speech is under threat It must be defended. If you agree, this is the time to join us. Enjoy a full year’s access to The Telegraph for £29. |  | Lauren Davidson Executive Money Editor | It is a sign of the deep financial hole Rachel Reeves finds herself in – and Labour’s what’s-yours-is-mine attitude to perceived wealth – that she is said to be cooking up new ways to tax people’s homes.
With about two months still to go until the Budget, reports abound of the various ways the Chancellor might plug a £50bn gap in the nation’s finances while sticking to her party’s pledge not to raise taxes on working people. With little road left to go down, Reeves has apparently turned her eyes to your home.
But this route is fraught with peril. Not only is there the risk that going after property backfires – failing to raise the expected revenue and crashing the market in the meantime – but the move could be politically disastrous.
“The cliché about an Englishman’s home being his castle is a cliché for a reason,” says James Frayne, political analyst. “It’s based on a deep-rooted English obsession with homeownership, and a belief that the state shouldn’t step into their front gardens, let alone over their welcome mat.”
One of the biggest dangers is that the tax burden will fall not on a wealthy elite, but on a squeezed middle class already paying the country’s bills. Frozen thresholds since 2021 mean modest earners are increasingly being taxed as if they are rich, with 14 per cent of adults – around three million people – set to pay the 40 per cent “higher” rate by 2027.
The number of people who fall into the 62 per cent tax trap over £100k has more than doubled from 300,000 in 2018 to 725,000 today, while stamp duty has morphed from a small charge that few people paid into a substantial cost paid by millions of home movers that can exceed an annual salary.
Now this over-stretched cohort faces the threat that Labour sees the family home as fair game.
Mattie Brignal has looked at five of the ways this tax grab could show up in the autumn Budget, from the introduction of an annual property tax or capital gains tax on a primary home, to a council tax overhaul, a new land tax or the removal of property relief from inheritance tax.
If even one of these features at the dispatch box, it could be ruinous not only for the property market and the middle-class taxpayer but for the Government.
“The bottom line is this,” says Frayne. “Only politicians who have lost their grip on reality think it’s a great idea to go after English voters’ homes.”
How Rachel Reeves could launch a tax raid on your home ➤ | | Tim Stanley You can bet the last few Conservative MPs left after the next election will be the very worst of them Continue reading ➤ Matthew Lynn Rayner’s growing property empire shows breathtaking hypocrisy Continue reading ➤ Andrew Lilico China will never be the most powerful nation on Earth. Here are the numbers Continue reading ➤ | Get full access Unlock Britain’s best news app and our award-winning website One year for £29 | | Caroline Darian: ‘You stay a mother until you die, whatever the trials and tribulations – but she didn’t’ | | Caroline Darian is the daughter of Dominique Pelicot, who invited 49 men to rape his wife, Gisèle, in their Provence home and was the focus of the biggest rape trial in French history last year. Questions remain about Pelicot’s treatment of his daughter – he had deleted photographs of her in which she appeared to be unconscious and wearing underwear that was not her own – and Darian is still searching for answers. Celia Walden meets her in Paris for an extraordinary interview. Continue reading ➤ | |  | | Sean Hickey, a sheep and pig farmer, had a trailer worth £2,500 stolen from his yard | | Trawden has been dubbed “Britain’s kindest village”, attracting attention for the way its residents have breathed life back into local amenities such as the pub, library, shop and post office by running them themselves. While residents speak warmly about their village, there’s a sense of disquiet about the crimes that have plagued the local community, from the killing of pigs with crossbows to the stealing of tractors by joyriders. Continue reading ➤ | | | | | Rachel Barr says everyone should treat their brain with the care we reserve for children and pets | | Rachel Barr, a neuroscientist with over a million social media followers, knows the importance of working with, rather than against, your brain. From combating loneliness and chronic stress to experimenting with your identity and practising self-compassion, she shares science-backed strategies to understand your mind, strengthen resilience and cultivate a happier, healthier life. Continue reading ➤ | | | The fictional residents of Coopers Chase, the luxury retirement home in The Thursday Murder Club, spend their time sleuthing – but what do real retirees in Britain’s fanciest establishments get up to? Anna Tyzack visited the magnificent Auriens in Chelsea to find out what’s on offer, including a splendid cinema and an indoor swimming pool, and discovered how much it costs to live out your final days in the lap of luxury. Continue reading ➤ | | | Anna Netrebko has become something of a pariah for her past associations with Vladimir Putin | | Should the Royal Opera House cancel its booking of Anna Netrebko, the superstar Russian soprano widely regarded as the greatest female opera singer in the world, and due to sing Tosca next month? She has past associations with Vladimir Putin – whom she has described as a “very attractive man” with “strong, male energy” – and the outcry against her return to Covent Garden is growing. Liam Kelly investigates the debate tearing opera apart. Continue reading ➤ | | | The last of the summer weekends can present a sartorial danger zone. A barbecue with the neighbours is not an invitation to step out in your trunks and a hibiscus-print shirt. There’s a more subtle way to put together a casual look with wardrobe pieces that will stand you in good stead for years to come. Jim Chapman, menswear expert, shows you the way here.
Below are two more articles I hope you will find helpful: - A bank holiday Monday is the perfect occasion to enjoy a brilliant war film. Tom Fordy has ranked the 50 best, whether you’re after daring heroism amid rollicking action or acts of shocking brutality that reveal the true horror of conflict.
- Finally, something completely different. Our readers have a lot to say when it comes to doing their laundry. These are their top tips.
|  | Matt Pritchett | Hello!
As I have been away this week, my editors thought that today would be a nice opportunity for you to send in examples of your favourite cartoons that I’ve done over the years.
If you have any that particularly made you laugh, or that really stuck with you, then please do submit them here. It would be great to come back to some inspiration from cartoons I’ve long since forgotten.
As always, I’ll be answering your questions on the Your Say page, so please enter some for me!
PS For an inside look at what inspires my weekly cartoons, you can sign up for my personal subscriber-exclusive newsletter here. | Admiring your handy work Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
Here’s a nice, light question for the bank holiday: what is the purpose of education?
In a recent letter, Neil Russell looked back on his time at grammar school: “While I have never since needed to conjugate a Latin verb, recite a passage from Chaucer or solve a quadratic equation, I have endlessly used lessons learnt in a single year of woodwork and metalwork classes.”
I take Neil’s point. The medieval dream poetry I studied as part of my degree doesn’t play a major role in my day-to-day life now. But what about those of us who never had any aptitude for woodwork or metalwork? At school, I displayed something closer to negative aptitude: I could take a perfectly good piece of plywood and make it look like it had been washed up on a beach, then struck by lightning. I have become no more dextrous with age, I’m sorry to say.
Still, I’m not alone, and I’ve enjoyed reading about the travails of fellow bodgers. Ian Wallace recalled: “When I was at grammar school in the 1960s, woodwork was obligatory for boys in the first three years. I detested it.
“I spent an entire term trying to hand-plane a piece of wood flat, despite there being a perfectly operational power plane sitting in the classroom. At the end of that term my parents queried why they had received a bill for 50p. I had to explain that I had, in fact, planed the wood away to nothing and never got it flat.
“I have not recovered from this experience and to this day cannot do DIY. My wife does occasionally ask: ‘Do you want to have a go at this or should I get a man in?’”
Ian Duckworth “suffered two periods of woodwork every week during my first two years at grammar school. The master sat on an elegant rostrum at the far end of the room, dressed in an immaculate military blazer with a matching tie. He had a lengthy cane, which served as a deterrent, along with Basil and Cecil – a couple of large planes, which certain reprobates had to hold above their heads for woodwork sins.”
Hamish Watson added: “My mother used to say about my father: ‘Give him the job and he’ll finish the tools.’” Ouch. How handy are you with a junior hacksaw? You can contact me here, or head to our Your Say page, exclusively on the Telegraph app. | From Westminster to Washington… Follow trusted coverage of the stories that are shaping our world One year for £29 | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
The solution to yesterday’s clue was SCREEN. Come back tomorrow for the answer to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. | |
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