A quiet Monday in the uneventful world of UK taxation.

So the ‘mini’ budget ended up decidedly mini after all.

The new chancellor Jeremy Hunt has cancelled most of Liz Truss's tax cuts, in a statement meant to calm markets after weeks of turmoil. The government had already cancelled some measures earlier, such as the abolition of the 45% additional rate of income tax and deciding to keep the increase in corporation tax. However, these on their own weren’t enough to re-establish confidence the markets needed. Cue the departure of Kwasi Kwarteng and dumping of almost all of his big-ticket tax changes.

Let’s remind ourselves of these measures and what the new Chancellor had to say about them today:

1.      Cancelling the planned increase of corporation tax from 19% to 25% for companies earning over £250,000 in profits - This increase in the main rate will now go ahead as planned, bringing in £18.7bn per year in additional taxes by £2026/27

2.      Abolishing the 45% additional rate of income tax – we already knew the government was dropping this measure early this month

3.      Bringing forward the 1% cut to the basic rate of income tax from April 2024 to April 2023 – Of all the measures scrapped by the new Chancellor today, this has to be the most noteworthy. This is because the Chancellor has gone beyond just performing a u-turn in scrapping the mini budget measure of bringing forward the tax cut by a year; he has delayed it indefinitely. This means the government will raise a much needed additional £5.9bn of taxes a year by 2026/27 because of the policy being delayed.

4.      Repealing the 1.25% increase to dividend tax from April – Although the increase to NICs will be repealed, the increase to dividend taxation will not be repealed which is a little odd given both measures were announced together to bring some parity between those employed and those running personal companies.

5.      Repeal the change to the IR35 rules on off-payroll working introduced in 2017 and 2021 – the Treasury estimates these rules will raise £2bn of additional taxes by 2026/27.

6.      Introducing tax-free shopping for non-UK visitors, and freezing alcohol duty – both measures have been scrapped.

The Treasury estimates that together the decisions taken to cancel tax policies from the mini budget are worth around £32 billion a year.

What little remains from mini budget includes:

• The reversal of the National Insurance contributions rates increase and cancellation of the Health and Social Care Levy will proceed. At least for now...
• Cuts to Stamp Duty Land Tax remain
• Going ahead with the setting of the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) at £1 million from April 2023
• Increases to Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme limits and reforms to Company Share Option Plan

In terms of non-tax measures, the Chancellor also announced the shortening of the universal support for household energy bills which will run now until April 2023 instead of the initial intention of two years, adopting "a new approach that will incentivise energy efficiency". The Treasury will now carry out a review to consider how to support households and business with energy bills after April 2023.

The Chancellor will publish the medium-term fiscal plan on 31 October which will likely involve further announcements on tax and spending. This plan will be published alongside a forecast from the OBR. More difficult and uncomfortable decisions to make for this prime minister. 

Whether today's announcements mean the 31st will be a less exciting day for us tax policy people remains to be seen. But after a series of screeching 180-degree u-turns it feels increasingly like we may actually be about to enter an extended period of stasis in UK taxation. The political risk of any significant new announcements looks too great. Tax has had a memorable few weeks in the limelight. Perhaps it's time for an operational pause.