Your biggest Autumn Budget concerns revealed

Potential changes to council tax, inheritance tax and capital gains tax are among your top concerns ahead of the Autumn Budget.

Speculation has been mounting about what the new government's first fiscal plan will include, and our new survey of Which? members highlights the potential measures readers are most worried about.

Read on to find out more about which changes could be on the cards as the clock ticks down towards 30 October.

Your biggest Autumn Budget worries

As the Budget draws nearer, rumours of potential tax changes are continuing to mount. 

The government has already announced some measures ahead of the Budget, including scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners. See our story for full details. 

Earlier this month, we surveyed 1,220 members of the Which? Connect panel to find out which potential changes they're worried about. The most common responses were as follows:

Council tax reforms – 70%

Seven in 10 respondents said they were concerned about the prospect of council tax changes.

The government could announce a shake-up of council tax, although Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has confirmed there are 'no plans' to raise current rates. 

Instead, the government may overhaul the current band system and replace it with a flat tax based on the value of a home, rumoured to be 0.5%. 

If that were to happen, it would mean bills for some properties would fall, while others would rise. 

Inheritance tax hike – 65%

Almost two thirds of people who took our survey said they were concerned about a possible rise in the rate of inheritance tax (IHT).

IHT is a tax charged on assets (such as property, possessions and money) over £325,000 in your estate. 

Very few people actually have to pay the tax, however. In the 2021-22 tax year, 27,800 deaths led to an IHT bill – just 4% of all UK deaths that year. 

The headline rate of IHT is currently set at 40%, but various reliefs and allowances mean people are able to bring that bill down considerably. 

The Resolution Foundation suggests Reeves could end some of these reliefs and abolish the nil-rate band when passing on your main property to your children.

• Find out more: what is inheritance tax?

Fuel duty rise – 65%

Fuel duty is charged per unit of fuel purchased and is included in the price of petrol, diesel and other fuels used in vehicles or for heating. 

A rumoured rise to the current rate was a concern for 65% of respondents to our survey.

The rate has been frozen since 2011 and was cut temporarily by 5p in 2022. 

That reduction was extended by the previous government in the Spring Budget, but forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility suggest that freezing the threshold until 2029 could cost £15 billion.

Capital gains tax increase – 48%

Almost half of respondents to our survey were concerned about a potential increase in capital gains tax (CGT) rates, which is charged on profits made from selling an asset, such as a second property or valuable possession. 

It was previously suggested that Reeves was considering increasing CGT rates to match those of income tax. However, The Guardian recently reported that the government could hike CGT to 39%, slightly below the 45% income tax rate paid by the highest earners.

• Find out more: capital gains tax rates and allowances

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What are readers less concerned about?

Respondents to our survey were least worried about the government raising so-called 'sin taxes'.

Almost nine in 10 (87%) said they were 'very unconcerned' about possible hikes to tobacco duty, while only 5% of respondents told us they were 'very concerned' that the government might raise alcohol duty.

Just 32% of respondents said they were concerned about the possibility of pension tax relief being cut for higher and additional-rate taxpayers. 

This might be because such a change now appears less likely: The Times reported that Reeves was warned this move would be unfair to public sector workers, including nurses and teachers, who are on relatively modest incomes.

How are people protecting their money?

Our survey asked what people have done over the past 12 months to protect their money. More than half (55%) of respondents said they had made no changes to shield their cash from the prospect of rising taxes, but almost a quarter (23%) said they had moved more money into cash Isas than they usually would.

Savers can invest up to £20,000 a year into an Isa without paying a penny in tax on the interest they earn. That allowance can be spread between a cash, stocks and shares or innovative finance Isa, or any mix of the three types.

A new type of product called the British Isa was unveiled by the previous government in the Spring Budget this year, offering investors in UK-only stocks and shares an extra £5,000 tax-free annual allowance, on top of the current £20,000.

However, according to a report by the Financial Times, those plans will now be torn up. The newspaper quotes a government source who claims the product has been dropped for fears it would 'complicate' the market.

Other respondents to our survey said they have bought tax-free premium bonds or gifted money to family, spouses and charities. The latter is a popular way to avoid inheritance tax. You can find out more about tax-free gifts in our guide.