The next Chancellor must encourage wider share ownership to close the savings gap
General Election manifesto from SimplyStockbroking
With a General Election approaching, wider share ownership must be back on the political agenda if UK plc is going to address the huge savings gap facing the country, according to online stockbroker, SimplyStockbroking.
SimplyStockbroking is calling on the UK’s next Chancellor of the Exchequer to take five simple steps to encourage wider share ownership and greater individual saving:
- Stamp Duty: abolish Stamp Duty on all securities transactions under £10,000. The current tax discourages investment and is uneconomic to collect for smaller trades.
- Increase the ISA limit significantly: ISAs are an extremely popular savings vehicle and by increasing the annual limit, people will be able to save more to help them become financially self-sufficient.
- Pay dividends gross within an ISA: this move will increase ISA savers’ return by 10%, which could make a vital difference to savings levels in a low-growth economy.
- Widen ISA investments to include shares in smaller companies: the current ISA investment regulations are too restrictive and should be widened to match the investment powers of Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP).
- Raise the CGT threshold significantly: allow people to keep more of their profits to encourage greater participation in share ownership
Stephen Pinner, Chairman, SimplyStockbroking, says:
“People in the UK are simply not saving sufficient money to provide themselves with long term financial security. The incentives to save and invest have been diminishing over the past few years. Those that have tried to financially prepare for their future have been confronted with the collapse of interest rates and increased tax burdens. If this goes on, a whole generation could reach retirement with insufficient savings to provide for themselves and the long term impact on public finances simply does not bear thinking about.”
“With interest rates at an all time low, stock market investment has a lot to offer. Recent events have of course proved that investment can be volatile, but it still offers one of the best means to build up wealth in the long term and provides an excellent hedge against inflation.”
“Whichever government takes power after the next election, we believe that encouraging greater saving and wider share ownership is essential for the prosperity of the country. That’s why we’ve set out our manifesto with five key actions to encourage wider share ownership. We urge the country’s politicians to take our ideas on board for the good of the nation.”
