My budget 2014 wishlist: Julian Parrott, ethical financial adviser

Julian Parrott, a partner at Edinburgh-based specialist sustainable financial advice firm Ethical Futures, reveals his wishlist for Wednesday’s budget statement.

I’d like to see strategies that would start to focus fiscal policy on creating a more sustainable and socially just society. So, in no particular order:

– Maintain increase on personal allowance to take more people out of the tax system altogether

– Stop the squeeze on middle income by the ‘pincer’ movement over last few years of adjusting higher rate tax threshold down to compensate for higher allowance

– Make free TV, bus passes and so on assessable taxable benefits for pensioners with a 20 tax credit. This would mean that higher rate taxpayers would then pay tax on it, without having to means test or penalise bottom rate taxpaying pensioners

– Limit pension relief to higher rate, not additional rate relief

– Restore additional rate to 50%

– Enact proposed relief for social and impact investing. Linked to this, create a futures fund and investment incentives to train staff and create high quality, not-for-profit, early years education sector

– Introduce a tax relief for investment in Real Estate Investment Trusts investing in sustainably built or environmentally restored residential property for rental (not sale) as social housing

– Cancel Help to Buy

– Additional allowance for a green ISA invested in genuinely green and sustainable funds

Further reading:

Budget 2014: investors say shelving low-carbon policies would be ‘reckless’

Budget 2014: freezing carbon price floor will impact investment, warns renewables industry

The 2014 budget we want to see

Green economy ‘fragmented’ despite rising support

George Osborne: UK should tackle climate change in ‘cheapest’ way possible