IFAs and their clients should not rush to change strategies with regards to mortgages and property investments in light of further reports the existing way of funding local councils may be scrapped in favour of a new system of local income taxes.
Such change could cut the link between house values and council tax bands in favour of income-based ones, helping groups such as pensioners which say their relatively fixed incomes cannot keep pace with council tax increases. Ray Boulger, senior technical manager mortgages at Charcol, says it would be premature for advisers and their clients to change strategy on the basis of what has been mooted so far. Although the Liberal Democrats have pushed for a full-on local income tax, the government’s shift in this direction so far seems to consist of leaks designed to test the waters, he sa...
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