Chancellor Alastair Darling has just finishing delivering this year’s Budget (about 50 minutes in case you had a sweepstake). If you missed it, the BBC site has an at-a-glance round-up here, chief of which include:
> Economy forecast to shrink 3.5% in 2009
> Growth expected to pick up in 2010, expanding by 1.25%.
> Economy to grow by 3.5% annually from 2011
> Public borrowing to increase to £175bn this year
> Public spending to be cut from 1.1% next year to 0.7% in 2011-2012
> Income tax for those earning more than £150,000 to rise to 50% from April 2010
> Alcohol and cigarettes taxes to go up 2% from midnight – one estimate is that it would put 5p on the average pint of beer
> Fuel duty to rise by 2p per litre from September
> Annual limit for tax-free ISAs to rise to more than £10,000 for over-50s this year and for everyone else next year
> The basic state pension will be increased by at least 2.5%, regardless of inflation
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will deliver his reponse on behalf of the party in a few minutes, and we’ll publish that on LDV later. In the meantime, use the space below to give your reaction…
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11 Comments
The income tax rise would only raise a further £1bn
It seems to be only a political ploy to outmaneuvre the Conservatives.
It should be cigarette duties rising at 6pm today according to the BBC.
Public borrowing is also to increase (total) to 79% of GDP in 2015 at which point it is set to level off.
Should also mention the fact that they’re aiming to sell £220bn in bonds at the next sale, although business people are saying that the structure of it could mean that it is as high as £260bn – either way it will be the highest ever.
This Budget was sheer Genius from a political perspective – if you’re a Goonvernment that knows you’re about to be unceremoniously dumped from office, you can hand the problem to somebody else and whinge about how they handle it.
Other than that, it was typical New Liebore…the usual ‘Taxandspend’ monster returned.
So with apologies to Lewis Carroll:
‘Taxandspendy’
Twas Budget, and the slimy toad,
Did send poor Darling out again,
From whimsy were the numbers grow’d,
That came from Number Ten.
“And use the Taxandspend, old son,
The debts that bite, the laws that catch,
Entreat the hidden tax, don’t shun,
The slightest attempt to snatch!”
He took his big red box in hand,
Longtime to Parliament he talked,
And waffled he, for in honesty,
He’d given it no thought.
And as for more he did beseech,
The Taxandspend did once again,
Come whiffling through the Budget speech,
And charged us as it came!
One Two! One Two! For me and you,
Our once-full pockets he ransacked,
And left us spent, to pay their debts,
He crippled us with tax.
“And hast thou used the Taxandspend?
Come to my arms, my eyebrow’d boy!
O Frabjous Day! Calooh! Calay!”
Gord chortled in his joy.
Twas Budget, and the slimy toad,
Did send poor Darling out again,
From whimsy were the numbers grow’d,
That came from Number Ten.
Dungeekin
The BBC says that there’s £3bn in cuts to education and health hidden amongst their “efficiency savings”.
Interesting.
The huge increase is borrowing is a massive concern. The budget is a shambolic failure.
I’ve gone through it in full detail here:
(the document and the costs of the new measures and tax effects)
http://soc-liberal-party.blogspot.com/2009/04/budget-09-let-down.html
> Economy forecast to shrink 3.5% in 2009
mmmmmm
> Growth expected to pick up in 2010, expanding by 1.25%.
> Economy to grow by 3.5% annually from 2011
My first reaction was to p!ss myself laughing. Only likely with the help of rampant inflation. High inflation is the gu’mint’s goal, but I remain in the deflation camp.
In notional terms maybe, in real terms, absolutely delusional.
> Public borrowing to increase to £175bn this year
Uhggggg… whince, I just want to smash things.
> Public spending to be cut from 1.1% next year to 0.7% in 2011-2012
An joke. We all know that’s completely inadequate.
> Income tax for those earning more than £150,000 to rise to 50% from April 2010
Goodbye finance industry. Enquiries on office space across the ditch just spiked.
> Alcohol and cigarettes taxes to go up 2% from midnight – one estimate is that it would put 5p on the average pint of beer
Pure evil! Just ordered a home brew kit.
> Fuel duty to rise by 2p per litre from September
I suppose climate pessimists will be happy. Neutral on this one.
> Annual limit for tax-free ISAs to rise to more than £10,000 for over-50s this year and for everyone else next year
> The basic state pension will be increased by at least 2.5%, regardless of inflation.
A bit of salve after having been put over the barrel… thanks very bloody much.
Total crap. We are witnessing our country being caught in a vortex and about to be sucked down the plug-hole. The fact that these clowns will in all likelihood be HM opposition instead of LDs is truly depressing.
Scrappage allowance of £2k. £1k of which is paid for by the motor industry.
Leaving aside the frankly bonkers rationale underlying this anyone want to take bets on the prices offered for trade-ins and other discounts offered by the new car industry falling by about £1k when people are trading in a car over 10 years old.
If Darling can find £15bn in efficiency savings without cuts to services then why hasn’t he done it years ago?
This is a last embers Government Budget that condemns our youngsters and students to the prospect of life in a debt ridden economy, for years ahead.
My main observations:
1.The Government have missed the chance to win back lost confidence from the City, with the threat of borrowing up to £260 Billion on some estimates from sale of Guilts to pay for their vacuous promises and wide of the mark estimates.
2.Nick Clegg has stated how to help 4 million lower earners, by a tangible tax cut of £700 each.This Budget forces the same people to pay out the burden of tax loading on the 2 p increased fuel and beer levy.
3.We have over 250,000 teenagers not currently in work or education or training and the pledge of offering under 25`s a job or college place at the end of one year does not help them today!
4.Scrapping ID Cards,reform of VAT and scrapping the Child Trust Fund and targeting air passenger airlines more fairly,on carbon taxing, has not been achieved.This would have put extra police on the streets and provided special training for the Demo.SPG Units and finance the `Pupil Premium’.
5.Vince Cable has described this super optimistic Budget announcement of 3.5% upturn over 2011, as `complete fantasy’ and there is no independent proof anywhere to be found.
6.Small businesses have not been helped that represent the core backbone of our local economy.Apart from the abolition of 3 years on loss making taxes there is precious little for them to get their teeth into on how to obtain local bank loans, that they desperately require.
This Budget does nothing to help the poor and hard pressed families,students or those seeking fairer taxes for the worst off,pensioners and young persons or small businesses.
What complete bonkers! They’re attempting micro-management on a macro scale, and just as with the quantitative easing, it’ll be smart bankers winning and the taxpayer loosing.
If the chancellor wanted to create stability and promote investment, he needs to be stable and invest.
Promoting new cars when we have enough cars is not investment. I’ll be scouring the full report for the embodied energy savings. I don’t yet know if the car scrappage scheme extends to gas guzzlers… wouldn’t surprise me.
Failing to address the dire situation around our energy and resources imports is just promoting waste. How can anyone invest in any energy (fossil or not) when we *know* we need renewables, but the govt is still allowing the market to float back and forth. The EU ETS could be fixed by one simple measure. A 30 euro/tonne reserve price on auctioned permits. That’s all biz needs to start pumping massive amounts of money into all sorts of schemes.
What about VAT? How come he didn’t switch some VAT away from services (as now allowed by EU regs) and onto energy. No… not this government. They’ve promoted waste for a decade and why change now.
“How come he didn’t switch some VAT away from services (as now allowed by EU regs) and onto energy.”
I cannot think of a single thing the government could do to ensure an absolute electoral slaughter than to increase VAT on Fuel!
Realpolitick means this would never happen.
“I suppose climate pessimists will be happy. Neutral on this one.”
Make that “climate realists”.
And no, not necessarily happy anyway. I mean it’s all well and good to tax petrol more, but what viable alternative does the average car owner have other than to drive a petrol driven car? Electric cars and hybrids are just not up to scratch yet.