22% levy on cash in stocks & shares ISAs : Comment

Mooted 22% levy on cash in stocks & shares ISAs – Holly Mackay & Flagstone comment

 
Reports suggest Rachel Reeves is preparing to impose a 22% charge on interest generated by cash holdings within stocks and shares ISAs from April 2027. For any further reporting on this story, please find below commentary from Holly Mackay at Boring Money and Katie Horne at Flagstone.
 
Holly Mackay, CEO of Boring Money:
 
We know that financial confidence is weak. 62% of UK adults rate their confidence at opening a new investment product at 5 or less out of 10, increasing to 72% if we just look at those who don’t invest today. 
 
If we are to pursue the Chancellor’s ambition of creating a nation of investors, we cannot keep moving the goalposts and making ISAs as confusing as everything else. We now have different contribution levels planned for Junior ISAs, Lifetime ISAs, cash ISAs and stocks & shares ISAs. To introduce more fiddly rules is really unhelpful and will deter more people right at the time we’re all trying to help people take the first step into investing. 
 
Katie Horne, savings expert at Flagstone:
 
The Chancellor’s decision to cut the Cash ISA allowance was a blow to the hundreds of thousands of people who, every year, do their level best to save money, often putting it away for the long-term to fund their post-retirement lives. 
 
The possibility of the Chancellor adding a 22% levy to any ‘cash-like’ investments in a saver’s Stocks & Shares ISAs would be a further blow. Not only will the tax curtail the freedom savers have to make savings and investments that suit their personal, individual needs, but it also risks confusing and complicating a system that was created to simplify taking control of personal finances and developing good savings habits.