Budget Day, The Chance(llo)r leaks! Press Association.

Axe back the class system.

Hooray Henry!

Chance(llo)r George Osborne is expected to unveil plans for an income tax cut worth around £45 a year in his Budget as he battles to offer voters some good news amid grim economic statistics.He is tipped to announce that the amount people can earn tax free will rise by £600 from April 2012, benefiting 25 million people and taking 250,000 out of income tax altogether. His annual statement will also introduce help for first-time home buyers through a £250 million Treasury-backed scheme to offer equity loans worth 20% of a property. Available to households earning less than £60,000, they would be interest free for five years, with borrowers paying 1.75% interest the year after and then 1% above inflation.

Mr Osborne was dealt a double whammy of economic bad news on Tuesday as he put the final touches to his second Budget since the Tory-Lib Dem coalition came to power in May. He has cast his statement as the moment the Government moves “from rescue to reform”, building on the deficit-reduction measures of 2010 with a business-friendly package to boost jobs and growth. Official statistics released on Tuesday, however, showed inflation rising to a two-year high of 4.4% while borrowing spiked upwards to £11.8 billion in February, diminishing hopes of a significant undershoot on the Government’s target of £148.5 billion for the financial year. Mr Osborne has promised the public will not be asked to swallow any further tax hikes or spending cuts, insisting that last year’s £81 billion package is enough to wipe out Britain’s deficit by the end of the Parliament. And he has dismissed Labour’s call for a Plan B of slower and gentler cuts, which he insists would be “a huge mistake” and risk shattering market confidence in the UK.

Expectations are mounting in Westminster that Mr Osborne will use the statement to float a controversial proposal to merge income tax and national insurance, but some Conservative backbenchers are fearful that effectively changing the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 32p will be hard to sell politically.

Motorists are hopeful the Chancellor will scrap – or at least postpone – the 1p hike in fuel duty scheduled by Labour predecessor Alistair Darling for April 1. But Labour will doubtless accuse him of not doing enough to ease the pain over prices at the pumps – currently at a record £1.40 a litre for diesel and £1.33 for petrol.

space

You may also like...

No Responses

  1. tee says:

    £45 a year, wow!!!!! ffs

    • Oliver says:

      £45 a year is for those that are on the higher tax rate. Anyone on the lower tax band will get approx. £320 per year.

      • tee says:

        you sure?? im on the lower band so i will check over the next few pay cheques, i thought they had said the tax threshold would raise by £1000, now its £600, but eventually its suppose to go all the way to the first £10,000 before paying tax, somehow i seriously doubt that will happen, bloody government, cant be trusted ..

  2. Angela says:

    At this point I move to England …………!!!!!!!!

    mta no news today ???????

    Ciao Dan

  3. alan says:

    45 quid a year!!!

    That’s almost half a tank of petrol.

    Cheers George, i’ll try and spend it all at once.

  4. Honest John says:

    Dan whats the score with this web site mate? And hows it going to work? your going to have to get a grip of these sp rises every time you blog just been reading that there’ll be a few of hundreds of quids to subscribe is this true?
    The poster on the san lion thread Pickle is saying that it is?

  5. Anton Gully says:

    Mr Osborne has promised the public will not be asked to swallow any further tax hikes or spending cuts, insisting that last year’s £81 billion package is enough to wipe out Britain’s deficit by the end of the Parliament.

    Does he believe in fairies as well?
    Still, whatever they’re doing has to be better than the black hole of alternatives from Labour.

  6. dj says:

    Dan, I would prefer a £45 a WEEK tax cut. £45 a year is stingy, considering it is my money in the first place…

  7. Matt says:

    £45 pounds a year? Oh thanks for that. What an insult!!!

  8. Robbie says:

    £45 a year ! These W*****s are taking us for a ride, RPI AT 5.5%, wages stagnant, public spending cut, fuel duty through the roof, spending all the money on illegal wars ! we need a revolution, kick the f******s out and introduce some real democracy I say.

  9. Olivanders says:

    Quick note:

    George Osborne announced that they will increase tax on North Sea oil companies, as part of funding the “fair fuel stabiliser”.

    This has affected the price of North Sea oil shares inc. Xcite, Encore and Nautical.

    Cheers,

    Oli

  10. A. C. says:

    Budget day leaks. Seems some of the best [worst] bits were not leaked after all, or missed. Taken a nasty knock on both Encore and Xcite today. Looking at how the bit is worded about the oil producer tax rises, Osborne mentioned North Sea but did not say they exclusively will be effected, so looks like other uk oil companies may be effected too: [taken from BBC news website:] “From tomorrow the supplementary charge levied on oil and gas production will increase from 20% to 32%,” he said.

    This, he said, would raise an additional £2bn ($3.3bn).

    “I don’t want important investment in the North Sea lost,” Mr Osborne continued.

    Hence, “if the oil price sustains a fall below $75 – and we will consult on the precise figure – we will reintroduce the escalator and reduce the new oil tax in proportion”.