Inheritance tax increases expected for some in Budget

For several weeks, senior government figures have been strongly hinting that there will be increases to the amount of National Insurance paid by employers.The Labour manifesto before the general election said that “Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT”.This massively limits their options to raise more tax revenue.But ministers appear willing to stretch the spirit if not the letter of their promise by putting up National Insurance on employers, some of whom – smaller businesses – would probably regard themselves as working people.The chancellor is expected to give herself extra breathing space by changing the government’s self imposed rules on when it can borrow money, and has told some government departments that their budgets will be lower than they want.A Labour source said that the negotiations on spending had provoked “significant angst”…