The failure to get his tax credit reforms through the House of Lords has left George Osborne in a something of a dilemma. Does he rein back his 2019/20 target for the economy to be in surplus, find spending savings elsewhere or raise taxes?

If the last of these then his room for manoeuvre is limited by his own statutory ‘tax lock’, introduced in the Summer Budget, which prevents any rises in the rates of tax for income tax, VAT or NICs for individuals, employees and employers over the next five years.

Where then is his wriggle room? The tax lock doesn't apply to all taxes and doesn't impact on tax thresholds and reliefs so possible measures in the Autumn Statement could include the following which could have significant implications for businesses and property owners across the country.

"Rumours are rife of possible changes to capital gains tax Entrepreneurs Relief which allows certain capital gains to suffer tax at only a 10% rate"

The changes in the Summer Budget to the taxation of dividends signalled HMRC’s continued dislike of the owners of private companies paying themselves dividends which are still taxed more favourably than salaries subject to PAYE. A logical extension to that change could be the application of NICs to such dividends.

The Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) charge has proved surprisingly lucrative for the Exchequer and the halving of the property value threshold to £500,000 from next April is likely to draw a significant number of residential properties into the ATED net.

There is currently an ATED exemption on commercially let property but with the anticipated rush to incorporate by a number of private landlords who will be affected by the phased abolition of higher rate interest relief, we could see a removal of that exemption.

Rumours are rife of possible changes to capital gains tax (CGT) Entrepreneurs Relief which allows certain capital gains to suffer tax at only a 10% rate. The lifetime Entrepreneurs Relief allowance has seen progressive hikes from gains of £1 million in 2010 to £10 million currently so a fall in the threshold might not be entirely unexpected for a relief that was originally only intended for the owners of smaller businesses.

Lastly, December 2014 saw a reform to the method by which Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) was calculated on residential properties but not commercial or mixed use properties. With an increase in the volume of commercial property transactions an ‘alignment’ or ‘simplification’ (terms often used by Chancellors when announcing tax hikes) in the two strands of the duty may be on the cards.

None of these measures, if introduced, will be popular amongst traditional Conservative voters but with over four years until the next general election, George Osborne may see this as the opportune time to introduce revenue raising measures.