'Last-ditch attempt' at equality: Industry reacts to PM's dividend tax hike

Funding social care reforms

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that dividend taxes will increase by 1.25% to fund social care reforms has been described as a “last-ditch attempt” to spread the costs across society, with members of the investment industry warning this could have a “huge knock-on effect on the entrepreneurial spirit of the nation”.

This comes shortly after Johnson's address to the House of Commons at 12.30pm today, in which he introduced a new ‘Health and Social Care Levy' which will raise approximately £36bn to be spent across the UK in order to prevent "catastrophic" care bills for the elderly and infirm. The levy includes a 1.25% hike in National Insurance contributions from April next year, as well as a 1.25% increase in tax on share dividends. The former has come under fire from Labour leader Keir Starmer as well as a number of Tory backbenchers, who argue that an NI increase will disproportionately impact ...