Anyone watching the Budget 2024?

[LadyofRutshire]

I couldn't find a thread on today's budget. Anyone watching live?

Will some of the additional funding for schools go towards paying the increase in NIC and minimum wage increase? Staff costs take up between 70-80% of school income

You think it's ok to violate the dignity of the most vulnerable in society? Treated like criminals - direct access to bank accounts for the "crime" of being in need of support?

This is for organised crime. Will need to read more about it.

We're farmers and we're scuppered. I don't know any farms worth less than £1 million.. Houses with 10 acres around here are a million.. No way we can afford the inheritance tax when in-laws die.

im watching it.
not understanding most of it.

It's going to cost my business an extra 25k a year which I don't have. So not sure wtf I'm going to do tbh.

Honestly not seen anything negative so far. Very impressed

Good news about the compensation funds, long overdue.

@crumblingschools yes, inevitably.

Well, I've just gone through this with my mum's estate, which is (when you add dad's allowance and take off his bequests) over £1m and we've paid £18k - taking into account that the vast majority of the value was in house and investment increases (nearly all in ISAs), no tax was paid on any of that, so it seems to me that to begrudge that is pretty mean. It's on the amount over that, not on all of it.

If you get to a point where you need to pay IHT then you're pretty privileged. I am single and no kids so my tax-free limit is £325k - my estate is well over that currently, yet I'm still OK with that. I simply cannot understand any kind of idea that IHT is in any way unfair, or that it's some kind of double taxation (there are loads of types of double taxation in fact). So, we'll just have to agree to differ.

But the headline is - they haven't really changed anything (other than the pension bit from 2027) so nothing to see here.

I was looking at a private school a very good one in Leeds and they are not putting the VAT on this academic year to families so maybe if other private schools do that that it won’t be such a massive shock for the families and most of them probably will start it from September

I think she has done really well

I think she announced an agricultural exemption to protect farms, you'd need to check the details as I wasn't really listening to that bit.

How many staff do you have?

I wonder what shampoo she uses 🤔

I hadn't realised it was only 2% stamp duty on second properties, in Scotland it's been 6% since April and was 3% before that.

Thing is, profits won't suffer. Either businesses will pass the higher costs onto their customers or pass it on to their staff via fewer staff or lower pay rises. The working person won't 'win' but because it will be indirect, people won't realise the impact on themselves.

The reduction in the NI threshold along with the minimum wage rise means employers will have less to spend on pay rises for higher paid employees. But is that such a bad thing? It spreads the load a bit.

I don't understand the looking into bank accounts as that's always been a thing. Have they updated it so its now digital looking in real time?

My understanding is that it will still come to you free of IHT (she hasn’t said anything to contrary), but if you then leave some of that pension, or any other, in your will, then it will be added to other money, house etc, and subject to IHT.

I don't think the VAT guidance to private schools will be out and usable by January.

I think we'll see that one get quietly pushed later.

It's had the desired PR effect already.

Stop talking nonsense. I very much doubt you’ll be bankrupt due to inheritance. If you inherit a productive asset, it will either earn enough to pay the tax or you sell it.

16

No IHT between spouses, so if it's a pot that comes to you - no, there will be no IHT.

@Brananan Wow that’s some amount. I thought she had said something about smaller businesses. Can’t remember the ins and outs but the exemptions allowing them to employ 5 full time staff.

Tbf I'm not watching so only going off this thread.

And I don't know too much about the benefits set-up. So I may be wrong but isn't it already the case that there's access to bank accounts if fraud is suspected?

But to have it for every claimant is very different, and seems terribly violating. And, from what I recall, isn't benefits fraud quite low?

The poorest and most vulnerable deserve dignity.

(Still I guess it might be helpful if the recipients of the most generous benefits - MPs - had their bank accounts checked - to prevent expenses fraud).