Retail investor anxiety over taxes and policy changes reaches highest ever level in IG sentiment tracker

Retail investor anxiety over higher taxes and government policy has reached its highest ever level in IG’s latest biannual sentiment tracker. 

The survey of 1,800 UK investors shows that 46% are worried about how taxes and policy changes could affect their investments over the coming year – up sharply from 33% in June 2025 and just 15% when the tracker launched in June 2022. The findings follow the Autumn Budget, which saw investors impacted by a number of policies, from frozen income tax thresholds to a 2 percentage point increase in Dividend Tax.

Taxes and policy changes rank third among investors’ concerns for the first half of 2026, after geopolitical conflict (51%) and political uncertainty (50%). Worries over geopolitical conflict fell from 61% in June 2025.

Broader economic worries are also rising. Eight in 10 investors (80%) said they are concerned about the state of the UK economy, the highest level since December 2022. Concern over government debt has also edged up slightly, from 36% in June 2025 to 38% in December, reflecting wider unease about the outlook for public finances.

Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst UK at IG, said: “Our latest client sentiment tracker highlights how sensitive investors are to policy changes. In recent years, across different governments, we’ve seen dividend tax hikes, reductions in capital gains allowances, and frozen income tax thresholds. Investors are naturally worried that this trend is going to continue.

“So while it’s encouraging to see steps being taken by the current government to boost retail investing in the UK, to grow participation in a meaningful way and give existing investors more confidence, these efforts must be backed by supportive policy. We need stable conditions to spark a stronger investing culture.”