Ken Davy: Spread the word about dividend taxation
As an IFA in the 1970s, one of the taxes most despised by my investment clients was the investment income surcharge.
This tax is effectively being revived as, from next April, investors receiving more than £5,000 from company dividends held outside Isas will pay more tax.
The IIS was introduced in 1973 on the principle that investment income was inherently less worthy than earned income. At the extreme, it implied that the reputed £185,000 per week (almost £10m a year) paid to Diego Costa for kicking a football was more worthy than the income of an entrepreneur who put his house on the line and worked hard creating employment and building a business, but found that any capital he created produced ‘unearned’ investment income which was liable to extra tax.
Read the full article on FTadviser.