Industry voices have warned that yesterday’s Budget heaps more pressure on property owners, savers and employers, while falling short of the radical reform many had hoped for. Several sectors highlight a growing tax burden and greater complexity, even where there are pockets of support for skills and lower earners.
Property and Scottish housing
Hannah Fraser, partner and property solicitor at Thorntons, said the Budget “brings a series of tax changes that will be felt across Scotland’s housing market,” pointing to the new high-value council tax surcharge in England and the 2-percentage-point rise in tax on property income. She warned that higher landlord costs, frozen personal tax thresholds and new mileage charges for electric vehicles “add further friction to transactions” and could gradually cool the market, even if any slowdown is “expected to be gradual rather than dramatic.”
Fraser added that “landlords in Scotland face immediate implications” as rental income is pulled closer to earned income through National Insurance changes alongside higher taxes on property and savings, which may push more investors to “reconsider their position or restructure holdings.” She said “all eyes will now turn to the Scottish Budget,” where decisions on LBTT, ADS and any Scottish version of the surcharge “will determine how these changes ultimately play out.”
Tax burden and business sentiment
Findlay Anderson, partner and head of corporate at Gilson Gray, said that “after months of kite-flying and speculation, today’s Budget landed with fewer headline changes than many expected,” but that ministers have instead leaned on “more discreet tax measures – targeting property, savings and dividends, alongside frozen thresholds and tighter salary sacrifice rules.” He noted that, “on top of the £40 billion tax rise announced previously, this Budget adds a further £26 billion, making this Parliament the most tax-heavy in 70 years,” even if markets have welcomed the Chancellor “doubling her fiscal headroom to £22 billion by 2029/30.”
Anderson said the package “still lands hardest on savers and property owners” and warned that this choice “will only deepen the trust gap with many voters.” For business, he argued “there is very little to welcome,” highlighting the continued Energy Profits Levy and lack of movement on agricultural or property tax reliefs, and described the statement as “a missed opportunity to provide the confidence and clarity Scottish firms are looking for.”
Complexity for savers and investors
Claire Trott, Head of Advice at St James’s Place, said that raising dividend, property and savings taxes by 2 percentage points “only adds further layers to an already overly complicated tax system,” forcing many people to rethink how they structure their holdings. She cautioned that the argument about aligning these taxes more closely with NICs on earned income “overlooks the fact that business owners are likely to feel the greatest impact, particularly those already affected by earlier NICs increases.”
Trott highlighted that “we now have three separate tests on pension contributions” and that income is taxed at different rates depending on whether it is earned, from property, from savings or from dividends, all on top of tapering allowances and frozen thresholds. She warned that while the changes will raise more revenue, “increased complexity often leads to confusion, disengagement, and in some cases, sub-optimal decisions that may ultimately undermine long-term financial planning without the benefit of financial advice.”
Tech, skills and the workforce
Ollie Whiting, CEO of La Fosse Associates, said the Budget delivers “a mix of welcome measures and missed opportunities,” praising fully funded apprenticeships for SMEs as “exactly what the tech sector needs to widen access to entry-level roles.” He also described the higher minimum wage, targeted cost-of-living support and regional investment in emerging tech hubs as moves that “will also give lower-paid workers some breathing space” and “show a commitment to spreading opportunity across the UK.”
However, Whiting warned that freezing tax thresholds “puts more pressure on take-home pay and on employers already navigating rising wage expectations,” while changes to ISA allowances and limits on pension salary sacrifice “raise questions about how seriously saving, investment, and productivity are being incentivised.” He said the Budget “doesn’t fully tackle the drivers of long-term growth” and argued that “the tech sector, and the UK workforce more broadly, needs something far more transformative to truly support growth and opportunity.”
Entrepreneurs, wealth and mobility
Rob Agnew, Partner and Head of Private Capital at Isio, said the Chancellor has “clearly indicated a desire for the UK to become a hub for entrepreneurs and fast-growing firms,” but that the measures “appear insufficient to genuinely attract entrepreneurs” given earlier reforms to capital gains and inheritance tax. He noted that while EMI thresholds have been doubled and VCT and EIS limits for knowledge-intensive companies raised, their appeal is diluted by “the reduction in income tax relief on VCTs from 30% to 20%.”
Agnew said that for wealth creators looking to pass on or exit businesses, “the cumulative burden of these policies can often outweigh the incentives,” especially when combined with increases in capital-based and property-related taxes and pensions and inheritance restrictions. He warned that the one-way tax trajectory “is unlikely to halt – and may indeed reinforce – the trend for entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals to diversify their residences and establish alternative bases in other jurisdictions, such as the UAE.”
Families, wages and recruitment
Paul Dickson, CEO of Armstrong Watson, said the freeze in income tax thresholds “will put an extra burden on hardworking families,” dragging more people into higher bands and increasing tax bills in real terms. He argued that businesses face “increased employment costs as a result of increased National Minimum Wage and more National Insurance as a result of restrictions on salary sacrifice arrangements,” alongside higher taxes on savings and dividends for those who have set money aside.
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Dickson warned that the combination of a higher minimum wage, tougher salary sacrifice rules from 2029 and existing changes from the 2024 Autumn Budget “is likely to hit business confidence” and could “make employers think twice about recruitment” and about taking on young people. He said that “if the Chancellor wanted to improve business confidence, I don’t think that’s what this budget has done,” but stressed that advisers “will continue to support our clients in navigating” the challenges.
