Ricky Mehta, 49, is shifting his money into riskier funds due to concerns that Labour’s victory could lead to tax increases for individuals like him, who have investments in both property and equities.
The London-based IT consultant has been planning to sell his rental property ever since his buy-to-let mortgage rate quadrupled. “I used to make an £800 profit. Now I’m losing £200 every month,” he said.
Mehta, like many other landlords, worries that a Labour-induced rise in capital gains tax could reduce his profits from the sale. However, he has a strategy to mitigate a large tax bill. Each year, he invests around £15,000 in Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS), and Self-Employment Income Support Schemes (SEIS), which provide various tax reliefs to promote investment in small-to-medium-sized companies.
