Anyone watching the Budget 2024?

[LadyofRutshire]

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

What I really can't stand - and it is rife here as well as in the HoC - is the 'gotcha' mentality when taxing second homers, private school fees and private jets were announced. It seems to be the 'done thing' to hate The Rich. It's childish in the extreme.
Likewise the assumption that everyone who owns a business is part of The Rich and is creaming off millions in wages instead of paying their poor employees more. I am glad I no longer own a business - this would have been the end of us, as we were balanced very delicately anyway.
In other words, nasty and envious.

Good question

Higher taxes but it's ok because it's just those pesky economy driving SMEs, extra £50bn debt and everyone feeling good about that according to these posts.

Incentives?

@financiallyiliterate because if you want a farm to continue then you don't want to have sell parts of it every time it passes down a generation to pay the IHT on it. Most people who will sell now will probably sell for development rather than to another farmer.

Jeremy Clarkson may be obnoxious in many ways but his series has really highlighted the issues in farming in this country.

Now there's an idea. More space for adverts.

Your in laws can gift the farm to you & capital gains tax will only be payable when you sell the farm. The CGT will be on the amount the farm increases in value from when you are gifted it to when you sell it.

@SmallGoddess but where are they going to get that money from, even if they have 10 years to pay it over

@WanOvaryKenobi they can earn 12500 before tax, so in these low wage brackets it really won't make much difference because they'll be earning thereabouts.
So if they go just over it will be hit by tax and ni. They should have just raised those thresholds.

@Twiglets1 and what do the in-laws do then, if they gift the farm to family member? Where do they live, what income do they have?

Anything for adult social care? No. Thought not. Unless adult social care is properly funded, all those extra patients seen and discharged from hospital but needing community support won't have domiciliary care workers. Moreover, they will wait for a social worker needs assessment.

Suggest you read the poster's subsequent posts and then you might realise who is being tone death.

What a shower of so and sos. Bare faced lied to the public to get elected and have absolutely and utterly taxed the British public every way they can, in the labour of old tax and spend on the unions they always do,

four years and counting to get them out. And in the meantime we all suffer.

I managed to watch some of the Budget today. I'd like to comment on Carers Allowance. It's a long one but I'd like to get this off my chest if anyone is willing to listen?

As a fellow carer I'm really pleased that the earnings limit is going up for those carers who can work, and that the government is also looking into the problem of the 'cliff edge' cut off point for those earnings. So far, so good.

However there is absolutely nothing in the Budget for me as a full-time carer. I care 24/7 for my profoundly disabled, now young adult, DC who is at home full-time. As a result I cannot take on any paid work. I do feel that carers like me are the forgotten carers, often hidden behind closed doors.

I did have a career before my DC was born. So far I have lost at least £600,000 in lost earnings and also in the future I will only get a tiny fraction of the workplace pension I would have had. At the same time I have probably saved the state £5 million in residential care costs by instead caring for my DC myself at home.

In return for that 24/7 care and sacrifice, I currently receive £81.90 per week Carers Allowance, which works out at about 48p an hour. Very reluctantly I have to rely on Universal Credit but, as others have said, every penny of my Carers Allowance is deducted from the Universal Credit, leaving me with about £227 a month.

When I start getting the small workplace pension at 60, it will be just enough to mean I will no longer be entitled to any Universal Credit. In one way that will be a boost for me psychologically - not to have to rely on and deal with the Universal Credit system - but I am concerned about the impact on things like help with Council Tax, eligibility for a social broadband tariff and potentially just being over the threshold for paying income tax. That could all make me even worse off. Because Carers Allowance is taxable, if I do have to pay tax then, for providing 24/7 care at age 60+, I will only receive Carers Allowance of £65.52 per week, which works out at 39p an hour.

It gets even worse for carers when we start receiving the State Pension. Carers aren't allowed to receive Carers Allowance and the State Pension together. That means that for providing 24/7 care at the age of 67+ I'll receive absolutely nothing in Carers Allowance at all. The small workplace pension will mean I won't be entitled to Pension Credit either, which I understand is the gateway to help with winter fuel costs, Council Tax and so on.

Being a 24/7 carer is full of love, but it is also back breaking, soul destroying, exhausting, lonely and full of fear for the future. Is what we give and give up not worth more than between 48p an hour and nothing?

@Katypp do you think that may be because wealth inequality has increased so much in recent years? If everyone felt better off, I think they'd care less about what the rich did, but because the disparity between rich and poor has increased so much in recent years here in the UK, I think that leads to envy and possibly even hatred. I'm not saying those views are healthy, but I think it is understandable.

Get what you mean😂 mistrust of mps probably

At least there is money allocated in the budget to improve the NHS ability to provide the service we pay for.
Personally, I think both GPs and dentists should be also direct part of the NHS. It is a real struggle to get an appointment here or to find a dentist that is taking patients. And I think many of them would just be better off taking a wage.
I also agree with taxing company profits and wealthier people, instead of taxing further our wages. With regulations to protect small business, working farms and so on. But not subsidies. We do need to move away from having to top up people's income with benefits or subsidy massive parts of the economy. It needs to sit on a fair level, where a person working full time can afford a living, farmers make a living, industry make a living and so on. Getting a grasp of the inflated house market is a key point too.

I’m pleased carers can earn more. My DS is autistic but I can only work 2 days per week without having Carers Allowance cut- he’s at school 5 days a week so I’m able to do more hours than that.

Oh god yes this!

The resentment and bitterness towards anyone even remotely successful is galling.

It’s worth remembering over half of all UK households receive more benefits and services than they contribute in all taxes.

Talk about benefits Britain. And Labour will only make this worse.

I agree with everything you say. Solidarity from a fellow unpaid carer who pays tax on CA because I have an occupational pension. But according to some on MN I am a scrounger. as is the person I care for.

Junior Doctor average starting salary: £32,000
Average weekly hours: 60-70
Hourly Wage: £8-£10

New Minimum Wage:
Average weekly hours: 40
Hourly Rate: £12.21

Again, what is the point of going to university for 4 years, taking on debt, getting an education, and working a very hard and very needed job if at the end of it you have to work far harder for less money than someone who left school with no qualifications?

My combined household income means I do not qualify for any help. This means the majority of my income gets spent on tax and childcare. I go to work because I have a mortgage.

The household income required for a family of four and a decent standard of living is £69,400: https://www.jrf.org.uk/a-minimum-income-standard-for-the-united-kingdom-in-2024#:~:text=A%20single%20person%20needs%20to,prices%20all%20rose%20in%20April.

Many, many families earn less than this. When you take into account the cost of housing, rent discounts, child tax, most families will be a net drain on society.

Which is fine if it feels like there is an incentive to earn more.

Oh no, @HebburnPokemon made it clear it wasn't a typo!

Its like tone deaf, but MUCH more severe!

Farmland that cannot be developed for homes CAN be difficult to sell for farming.

Naive to think all farms can be developed for housing - so much land is unsellable as development.

Valuing a farm in its entirety, doesn’t take into account that the overall value doesn’t mean that each acre is worth equal portion.

The budget has just made each farm employee more expensive to employ each year.

All employers after budget will pay avg £1k more tax on each employee … expect that to increase price of goods and services.

Its all paying for the endless stream of low skill migrants, who, when get a job, will be paid new high min wage plus employers pay an extra tax on each.

What kind of growth strategy is this?

Agree with your second part, but really no one should be owning a private jet, terrible for the environment.

Yup just have to survive their term. They've alienated too many people eg with inheritance tax. Why should I have to pay a huge chunk to the Gov from my pension fund for all the work I've done, things I've done, awful places I've lived ? May as well have sat on my arse and did fuck all. None of this is a surprise.

I think you make an excellent point about the disparity between the amount of carers allowance and how much institutional care would cost. Your love and devotion is amazing. Your child is blessed to have you.

@WanOvaryKenobi A doctor is a vocational job, why are you doing it if the main purpose and advantage isn't to help people? It's very money grabbing.