All-round Budget thread

Working mum's with kids in childcare - working to work and not really enough to enhance your households income! My sons pre-school is £3.52 ph and most jobs that I am trying to get are paying not alot more than £6.00 ph so over half before tax gone on childcare!! Yes you get child tax which in our case gets lost in our account on every other bill rent etc!! Then you have the fuel expence to get to pre-school then work it all adds up and you have to ask why do it at all!! But with next to no money and the insanity of staying at home with a 4 yr old - roll on September when he starts school!!

I have never qualified for benefits (other than recently the child benefit), and have never expected to receive benefits given I do think my salary means I shouldn't get them. I have never complained about how much tax I pay either - I earn more I pay more - simple. I am completely realistic that taxation will never be done a different way.

I am not "blaming the tax-bill or thinking they need handouts" I am just pointing out that higher rate tax payer does not equal well off - there are more factors. Some don't get this it seems and clearly get wound up when a higher rate tax payer dares to suggest that maybe they should be given some slack rather that seen as some kind of well to do rich person who can afford whatever measures are thrown at them while somehow someone earning under this band must be seen as more needy.

"I think some people have not yet woken up to reality"... and I think some people are too black and white in their thinking and are making comments with no understanding of other peoples circumstances. Sadly those who think in this way are unlikely to take on board the views of others so there is no point even trying to defend my position.

So fuel duty will be cut be 1p per litre? Great.

But the the government are funding this by taxing the fuel companies an extra £2 billion. Now who do reckon will have to pay for that?

" Yes I could sell up and move to where my family live and probably be better off even with a much worse job.".... seems like a no-brainer to me. What's stopping you?

Not harsh at all. Anyone earning good money and still struggling to make ends meet shouldn't just be blaming the tax-bill or thinking they need handouts but should look closer to home at outgoings and life choices. Life is not the way it was five or six years ago where those on £50k qualified for benefits and we could spend it like water, borrow some more and hang the consequences. I think some people have not yet woken up to reality....

strix...I wouldlike tothink that was true; but I have me
doubts...

it was very noisy in parliament. What are they all on?

@Chil1234

Firstly I was not looking for any sympathy - you are completely right about everyone making their own choices. Yes I could sell up and move to where my family live and probably be better off even with a much worse job.

However I was just pointing out that simply looking at gross income is not a great indicator of how well off someone is. I can directly compare myself with someone who chooses the same lifestyle as me (has a family house, job, 1 child etc) in a very different part of the country and I while it might seem that I should be significantly better off because of my salary, in fact due to not getting the benefits/tax credits they get, due to silly house prices etc, I end up with less money to spend on my "lifestyle" every month. I don't expect sympathy, but I also ask that people understand that not everyone has the same outgoings and it is NOT related to leading some kind of opulent lifestyle.

I never go out, rarely buy clothes other than for daughter, have to be VERY careful when food shopping, don't smoke, can't afford holidays etc, so I am at a loss at exactly which part of my lifestyle I have opted for that I can't afford.

Jeez, Cil1234, that was a harsh. I liked Pippy's post. If we were businesses our net gain would be looked at. But, as individuals, they tax us based on income alone irrespective of our costs. And people who are labelled rich on paper are often struggling more than those who are benefitting from their taxes.

Apologies for the missing n's in government !

growth was picking up under the labour government

Do you know what else was increasing under Labour ?

Goverment spending and the national debt ! Leaving us with bigger and bigger payments to make and a black hole in the goverment funding situation !

"Growth was picking up under the Labour government"

@ThePippy, the income tax system doesn't run on disposable income... just gross income. If your gross pay is high enough to ping the higher-rate tax threshold bell then you're obliged to contribute just the same as someone on the same salary living in a cheaper area with few outgoings. We all have to cut our cloth and make our choices how to spend the cash.... we can't expect HMRC or the Chancellor to dash over with the tea and sympathy because we've opted for a lifestyle we can't really afford.

Also adding to the info on childcare - I pay annually just shy of £14,000 for one child to attend full time at a day nursery. Before tax this means I need to earn around £19,000 just to cover these costs.

This is for a standard nursery in one of the most expensive parts of the country (where I am also hit with some of the highest house prices and travel costs in the country) so while I earn what many would see as a good salary, like everyone I have still been hit hard by recent events (fuel rises, no pay rises, tax increases, food costs rising, increased lending rates on mortgages), and will be hit further when I loose child benefit as a result of being "well off".

Taxes are not dependent on location or affordability, so I have to say that while I am a higher rate tax payer I am significantly worse off than many of my family who live in one of the cheapest parts of the country and who are not higher rate tax payers.

How wealthy you feel will more than likely depend on your disposable income rather than the figure your company pay you, so while I understand why someone on £10,000 a year thinks a higher rate tax payer is extremely well off, I know this to be untrue and would never judge anothers wealth soley on what they earn.

I think no matter what is announced in the budget, life for everyone is going to continue to be tough for a few more years, which is frankly bloody depressing.

Not necessarily... the inflation pressures are largely coming from external sources e.g. oil and other commodity prices, rather than excessive spending on credit as was the case in the past. Raising interest rates won't affect the oil-price, for example. And even if someone has a variable rate mortgage, they were capped at somewhere above the base rate when rates were dropping.

adamschic - inflation at 4 - 5% almost certianly means the Bank of England will have to raise the Bank Rate in April/May and keep on raising it throughout the year.

That will undo any small give away in the budget for many families who have a floating rate mortagage.

We earn £37k gross roughly Chil. I don't understand what 'tapering' and 'cut off' means.

I know this year (2011) tax credits will remain the same for us but I just want a figure for next year (2012) and can't seem to find the info. to give me one

@MrsOtter... if you earn £30k gross you will continue to receive the minimum 'family element' of tax credits. The cut-off for 2011 is £40k as stated in the article.

The family element, currently guaranteed at £545 if annual income is £50,000 or less, will start to reduce by 41p for every £1 when income reaches £40,000.

The following year the cut-off will be £30k. Does that answer your question?

Hang on, I know i'm a massive tory but you are genuinely suggesting that the last government was good for the economy!?!?!

Its a shame they haven't made the tax threshold higher. I would love to see a threshold of about £15,000. Then scrap all of the tax credits which seemed a bonkers idea in the first place.

I heard that inflation is already running between 4 and 5%. Most employees won't be getting a pay rise this year, we have been lucky to get 2% starting next month. The figure don't look good but it remains to be seen.

I have searched. There are no answers. Hence the need for clarification.

Will probably have to wait for the HMRC calculator though - Thanks George

No it still doesn't. Better stick to Chil's. Or search for the info you want on direct.gov.

Well I read the link but it didn't tell me how much we will lose