Todays Budget has resulted in the average workers getting a load of money

[DistinguishedSocialCommentator]

A load of money back in their pocket. I believe the average is 1300 a year for a person on an average wage is a few quid short of 35,000.

That is a real saving

However, those paying tax but no NI as pensioners don't have to pay it or if you don't work won't get a penny of that. My OH and I left work years ago not reached state retirement age and won't gain a penny but we are really happy for the majority that work as work must be rewarded.

A lot of winners here. We are not for reasons as stated above but still happy with the budget, inc the extra money for the NHS and completing 200,00 extra operations a year and money for improved IT system.

I feel this budget is good for those in work and rightly so and those in work with children of up to school leaving age?

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator if only you’d published your memoirs earlier, we all could have taken your life lessons on board and been in a much healthier state.

You will agree with me the vast majority (not all) become homeless due to mismanagement of money. That is not the govs fault

No I don’t and yes it is.

No its not as I know there will be a so-called mini-budget just before the election that will see the basic rate drop to 19%. The tax free allwace to increase. and one or two other items

Can we see your sources, please?

You will agree with me the vast majority (not all) become homeless due to mismanagement of money. That is not the govs fault.

No, we won't agree with you because you're wrong and have zero understanding of housing and of economics (to list but a few).

Your suggestion that people on low incomes only need to work harder is testament to your utter lack of understanding of the complexities of real life.

By Christ OP, you sound like a party political broadcast for the Conservative Party and it is vomit inducing, smug, self congratulatory and, frankly, utter bollocks🤑

"No it's not as I know there will be a so-called mini-budget just before the election that will see the basic rate drop to 19%. The tax free allwace to increase. and one or two other items

Can we see your sources, please?"

Yes, I'd be interested to know where this has sprung from.

Has anyone mentioned tax thresholds?

Inflation has gone up.
So people have pay rises linked to inflation - so basically keeping up with inflation. Your money doesn't go further as you need more money to pay for more expensive goods.

BUT tax thresholds haven't gone up. So you end up paying MORE tax on your earnings that have only increased in line with inflation.

It doesn't matter that inflation is fallling. That's just the rate that things are increasing.

Inflation is a completely different thing. Having more money and having more spending power are not necessarily the same thing.

We were all going to be much worse off regardless what the chancellor did because of huge increases in the cost of living over the last few years - with nothing really rising to compensate for that.

Bundling effects of inflation in to make the government look worse (as if anyone really needs to make them look worse) is deliberately confusing. The way the sky calculator puts it, it sounds like the government has taken nearly £200 a month away but they haven’t. That figure is based on a scenario that was never on the cards where the tax thresholds were going to rise in line with inflation. Everyone knew that.

No government is going uk out a triple lock type mechanism in tax thresholds to ensure that people are not worse off because of inflation. The government have been clear that they intend to freeze tax thresholds for years.

So, compared to before the budget, there’s been no change to that. Everyone was going to feel worse off because their money doesn’t stretch as far. The only thing that’s really changing for most people is a reduction in the NI rate.

It doesn’t make Jeremy Hunt more generous or anything like that to just accept that the change announced in the budget means people will have £X more reach their bank account relative to what the situation was pre-budget.

Yes, inflation and interest rates are an absolute fucker. And yes, that’s the government’s domain to take responsibility for.

All this ‘you’ll be £X worse off relative to a scenario you’d prefer that was never promised’ just confuses the issue. It actually makes it harder for most people to
understand that the problem is inflation. They do have more money in quantitative terms but inflation has meant that their standard of living will still stuffer despite that.

That distinction matters.

Many, many people don’t have pay increases linked to inflation though.

Many people don’t have any kind of annual pay increase or pay review mechanism. They only get a pay increase if they are promoted or change jobs.

The actual story is that inflation and interest rate rises have screwed most people over. Tinkering with where the tax revenue comes from (and taking advantage of any pay increases people are getting) to increase the overall tax take while pretending to be generously lowering it is just an attempt to distract from how poorly we have been governed over the last several years.

@ClutchingOurBananas, you really don't seem to understand fiscal drag.

It's true that lots of people don't get pay increases linked to inflation. I certainly won't. That's beside the point.

If people get no pay increase or below-inflation pay increases, they will obviously be worse off because their pay packet will give them less purchasing power. That is the effect of inflation.

The impact of freezing the tax thresholds is separate to this, and compounds the impact of inflation, because the vast majority of people will end up paying a higher proportion of their salary in tax - this applies to anyone who gets any kind of pay increase, whether it is linked to inflation or not.

It isn't about trying to make the government look bad because they have somehow failed to protect the population from the impact of inflation. It is simply acknowledging the fact that a failure to raise the tax thresholds when average pay has significantly increased because of inflation is effectively a stealth tax increase. Luckily for the government, there are probably plenty of people like you who don't seem to be able to understand this. That's what they're banking on!

I'm sorry OP but you sound like a Tory insider. How can you possibly know there is a mini-budget coming. How do you know when the election will be? Every seasoned political analyst in the UK is struggling to know when it's coming but you have inside knowledge. The only people with that sort of knowledge are people inside no. 10.

I categorically disagree with your assessment of homelessness. Again, "mismanagement of money" is a Tory/Daily Mail line that paints victims as villains. It might be a factor in some cases but it is certainly not the vast majority. There are so many reasons that include abuse, domestic violence, rising rents, lack of affordable housing, lack of social housing... According to one major charity, the main cause of homelessness is relationship breakdown. As I said previously, the issues we face cannot be solved with pithy statements or one-fix solutions: if everybody just managed their money better there'd be no more homelessness.

You talk about sacrificing holidays and driving second-hand cars and I'm wondering if you realise that millions of people still do that today, myself included. Do you know that there are working families having to use food banks - something you yourself didn't have to do. Given that you are in your 50s, it's safe to assume that you benefited from a better pension system along with more affordable housing. Even factoring in the high interest you paid, housing was still much cheaper in the 80s and 90s than it is today. In the 90s, the average house was four times a person's annual income; today it stands at eight times. That means smaller rises in interest have a much bigger affect. "We only had three kids." The annual birth rate is falling and the cost of childcare, running a house, and living in children is sited as a major reason for people to have no children at all.

Remember that we are currently living with the highest tax burden since 1978 and our services are in absolute decay. The idea that people now have it so much better is a myth.

Its up to you and I keep having to reiterate this and almost giving up

I have no affiliation to any hypocritical, three-faced political party as at the end of the day, they are in it for themselves. Now if you don't believe that, there is nothing else I can say.

A fact of life

Tories will try to attract on the whole those in work and with a few quid to their names.
Labour will try to attract on the whole, those on benefits, lower wages

Liberals, they are not sure whom they are trying to attract but will try to make promises in the hope some will vote for them but once given the chance to join a coalition setting for number 10, everything will go out of the window.

"pre-election" No its not as I know there will be a so-called mini-budget just before the election that will see the basic rate drop to 19%. The tax free allwace to increase. and one or two other items"

Where did you get this from?

The tories attract the old. 90% of people below 50 no longer support the tories and that includes higher earners. Read the mumsnet thread on people struggling on household incomes of 60-120k and you will see many mumsnetters on up to £180k absolutely furious with the government for declining living standards.

IMO there is nothing wrong with the tax rates of 20/40/45% but the thresholds at which they kick in should go up each year with inflation.

The same % should be used for benefit (inc pension) uplifts also. A clear, agreed % by which everyone is lifted along with the rate of inflation together year on year so we all stay on track with the value of the money we receive.

Basically, we are generally worse off. I ear twice as much as I did 7 years ago, but inflation, interest rates and children at University mean I have to be more careful with money now than then.

But, of course my take home is not double.

The Tories can try to attract people who work and have a few quid to their names. The point that they - and you - seem to be missing is that a lot of working people who are comfortable financially will still have a conscience.

Not everyone votes purely along the lines of self interest. Many of us believe in society and in the importance of high quality public services. Many of us recognise that, when people fall on hard times, it isn't necessarily their fault. Many of us want to live in a society that is fair to everyone, and in which the most vulnerable are treated with dignity and compassion.

No one said "everyone voted for.."

Perhaps not, but the implication was that you clearly expect most people to vote on the basis of self interest. Of course, many people do just that - or at least, they vote for what they perceive will be in their best interests even if it isn't. However, there are plenty of people who aren't just thinking about themselves.

I was clear at the outset as almost everyone will be aware of the facts that never, never does everyone post for the same party.
There is no "implication," no ifs, no buts, no nothing it is what it is.

I'm note sure if you are being deliberately obtuse but I'll let you have the last word.

Never read such nonsense. There was very little given away and if the minimal amounts that certain workers will receive is what you call " a load of money" OP, then you and I have different definintions of the expression "a load of".

As one Tory MP quoted by the BBC said: "If this is supposed to be a springboard for the next election. Jesus wept!"

Which makes it even worse for people who don't get such pay rises.

If the thresholds increased with inflation, you would technically be receiving the same pay equivalent.

But not increasing it with inflation means that the effective spending power of your take home pay is reduced.

And for those with savings, their effective power also decreases. This is why we must adhere to robust financial policies that are viable and dreamt up by some looney, wana by PM.

Get you with your economic knowledge.

More incomprehensible by the day