The accountancy firm MacIntyre Hudson sees this as a key change Mr Brown might want to introduce in the Budget.I can't help feeling, however, that although it would be another popular measure, Mr Brown will pass up the chance to make immediate changes, and opt for a government-sponsored IHT consultation period instead.Any hint of reform of stamp duty and IHT will be more than welcome; and if the Chancellor mentions National Service as well, he might even win my vote.s.dunn independent.co.uk. On top of this, any dividends received from your stake in the VCT (you buy shares in the vehicle) are tax free. Home invest in burgeoning pop stars, others in wind farms or cutting-edge technology. Again, this involves property.The inheritance tax (IHT) net has caught millions of middle-income families during the past decade as house prices have rocketed. Forty per cent tax must be paid on any estate over a £263,000 threshold, and the property price surge in recent years has catapulted ever more people into this bracket.

But there are no signs that the Chancellor is preparing to budge.Many inside the industry think that pleas on behalf of hard-pressed first-time buyers will fall on arid ground. Mr Brown has already made it clear, they say, that the way ahead lies with plans unveiled a month ago to build more social housing across the UK.Yet the populist appeal of such a tax change is obvious. The firm estimates that 60 per cent of these may have been mis-sold a policy.. Everyone has a personal wish list.

At the risk of sounding like my father, my own includes the resurrection of non-military National Service and draconian limits on the time we spend watching television Everyone has a personal wish list. The "fund" was announced last week as the group reported £4.6bn in pre-tax profits. A spokesman for HBOS said the money was a "one-off provision".HBOS customers are among millions of endowment holders facing a sizeable shortfall - of an average of £5,500 - on the policies they were sold in the 1980s as a way of repaying their mortgage debt with a lump sum at the end of the 25-year term.This is according to figures from endowment compensation specialist , which show eight in 10 policyholders are currently facing shortfalls. "Then you will not be at the mercy of your lender changing the rate as and when it wants," she said.Scottish Widows last raised its rate from 5.84 to 6.01 per cent in September last year following a base rate rise from 4.5 to 4.75 per cent in August.Endowment mis-sellingHBOS, the banking group that includes the Halifax and Bank of Scotland, has set aside £130m in compensation for endowment mis-selling.