Reeves slammed as ‘Baldrick Chancellor’ by Kirstie Allsopp after landlord tax rumours
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has compared Rachel Reeves to Blackadder’s hapless servant Baldrick after rumours surfaced of a new tax on landlords.
Allsopp, who is best known as the presenter of Channel 4 shows like Locaation, Location, Location, tweeted earlier today: “Another week, another cunning plan from our Baldrick Chancellor.”
“What Rachel fails to understand is that taxes have unintended consequences, or in some case [sic] consequences that you are warned about but ignore… I genuinely didn’t think we could get worse than the previous Government, how wrong I was.”
The dim-witted character of Baldrick is a mainstay of the classic TV show Blackadder, known for his doomed ‘cunning plans’ which inevitably lead to disaster.
The latest ‘cunning plan’ in question is the expansion of national insurance to include property income, a move which – if implemented at the Autumn Budget – would bring in around £2bn in yearly income for the Treasury.
Officials are drawing up various options for tax rises in an attempt to avoid breaking the “red lines” set by Reeves before the general election, where she promised to not raise taxes for ‘working people’.
But property experts have warned the move may backfire and lead to either rising rents as landlords exit the sector, or lower revenue for the Treasury as once-independent landlords set up limited company structures to hold property.
Sam Humphreys, head of M&A at Dwelly, said the measure could be a “tipping point” for landlords.
“Once stock is lost, it is incredibly difficult to rebuild, and the people who pay the price are tenants facing rising rents and fewer housing choices.
“If the government wants to improve affordability, it should be working to increase supply – not choking it further with punitive taxation,” Humphreys added.