I'm unbelievably ill informed and stupid.

[Lola247]

Can anyone explain the budget to me in simple terms please?

Not the case. SMEs have a frozen rate of national insurance, so they won't face higher tax bills. Larger companies can choose whether to impact their profits or to increase prices/cut jobs, but ultimately it's an ideological one. Too many give silly amounts to shareholders and the executive team while underpaying staff and expecting the Government to supplement the shortfall with benefits.

The minimum wage increase is a double edged sword (see my post above) as I can't earn too much more. I have just increased my pension contribution so I don't take too much money home. The limit I allowed to earn at present is just £155 per week.

Well, for once, it's not middle income earners who are taxed.

You are totally and utterly clueless. Look at how the markets are reacting. They have lied and lied and lied.

God, at what point to labour fans stop blaming the tories to justify labours shit show. I mean cmon. It’s cringe now.

I'm not a "Labour fan", but the Tories spent fourteen years blaming unpopular decisions on the previous Labour government!

This is absolute rubbish!!! RR had access to the books for months and months before the election what we are now paying for is all their give always, that is on liebour not the previous government. I support neither of these parties or their politics.

The Tories would have had to pay something. Eventually, they’d have paid the pay review suggestion. In the meantime, the strikes would have had a cost to the country. None of that was budgeted for. It’s entirely their black hole.

The Tory’s blamed the previous Labour government for 14 years. We ll allow Labour a little while longer I think.

Predictably the press have gone all hysterical but on X today and SM there’s lots of positives. Doing your own research is the key.

Has everyone forgotten that covid cost the exchequer £400bn in furlough etc., and the economy in general that several times over? Then Russia invaded Ukraine and the cost of energy shot up as a consequence. I wonder how Rachel Reeves would have handled THAT black hole!

Ne’er do wells like doctors, nurses, teachers, schools whose ceilings will fall in if they don’t get it etc etc you mean?

The austerity measures were because of the 2008 market crash caused by the sub-prime mortgage fiasco. This was a global banking collapse which had nothing to do with the Tories.

No, austerity was a choice in response to that. Other choices were possible. Countries which made other choices recovered more quickly.

@Lola247

As said the country desperately needs the money. Most of the increases start in April 25. Why on earth not today? Why no increase in air passenger duty? Why no £5 excise duty [today] on disposable vapes? Why no 50% VAT rate on vaping bearing in mind the high duty on tobacco.

And so on ...

Larger companies can choose whether to impact their profits or to increase prices/cut jobs, but ultimately it's an ideological one.

An ideological question of whether to charge more or go bust.

Yes and Brexit just before.

Basically our western capitalist model is no longer delivering ever more benefits for everyone and things seem to be falling apart a bit and the coffers really can’t support all our public health services and education needs like they used to. It’s a fairly tough situation for any government to be in and there is no right answer. You can other keep taxes low and reduce spending to try and balance the books. The problem is this doesn’t really drive growth and once you driven everything into the ground you can actually become less competitive as you have a poorly educated population in poor health, then what? Or you can borrow and raise tax and invest it in projects you think will drive growth and eventually create more money for the coffers. The problem is this takes a long time (more than one political term) to see the benefits, it’s quite risky as you might scare off business with too much tax and if you don’t invest int he right places and you might not get the growth you expect. Labour have chosen the latter approach. Working in the public sector the austerity approach was frankly becoming pretty terrifying. I honestly don’t think people understand the level of investment that has been removed from public services in the last decade so I’m on for a bit of a gamble in the hope things get better.

Their choice to deal with it via austerity is on them though. Countries which didn’t go that route recovered more quickly.

Well done, Brexiteers! 🤣

It really doesn’t matter how many times you say they lied. It doesn’t make it true. Are there additional things which weren’t in the manifesto? Of course. Have any hard commitments been changed? No.
And actually, while it would be sub optimal if they had changed key pillars of the manifesto it still wouldn’t be a lie. If I promise to give a friend a lift, then just before I’m due to pick them up I find my car has broken down so I can’t it doesn’t mean I lied about the lift. It means circumstances changed.

Do you know, I could have written OP's post for her!

(And that Title. Well, that's me down to a T! )

Ah those Salad Days...

1. more money to public services
2. more money for education and children
3. all businesses to pay more NI (not just the largest - with the broadest shoulders) and the amount has been halved before it’s paid - negated any another element for v small business - could lead to less employment or not
4. shops/hospitality business rates (they pay in addition to rent etc) will increase by 30% - there was a 75% reduction which becomes a 45% reduction (these rates range but can be £100,000’s)
5. minimum wage increase to £12.21 (good - but some concern that a- inexperienced people will not get employment b- will increase inflation as experienced people will want a bigger gap between pay) most MW/NLW are in services so expect business to pass this on along with NI increases : hairdressers, construction, hospitality etc may all incr their services pricing (or not)
6. Inheritance tax - lots about this - actual farmers up in arms, people who’ve bought farmland as a tax dodge have been caught up with - expect there to be further issues like protests from actual food producers - not always about generational wealth but about people proud to do the job. This also applies to family businesses.
7. capital gains - if you buys something and it makes money you pay on the capital gains. If you bought something for £10 and sold it for £20 you would have payed 10% of £10 (what you made) but now you will pay 18% (or 24% depending on your tax bracket).
8. 2nd homes, stamp duty was 3% today it’s 5%
9. Non doms - people who don’t live here all the time pay a different rate of tax after a certain period. This will change and they won’t get this benefit any longer
10. fags and vapes going up and being taxed for the first time
11. draught beer going down - but to be honest I wouldn’t expect to see a penny off the pint anytime soon due to NI/BR/NLW
12. you pay more if you fly by private jet 🤣🤣🤣

there are loads more, some is good, some has upset some people. I don’t think the Uber rich are quaking in their boots. I think the previously squeezed middle will feel effects (mortgage rates are likely to drop far slower than previously suggested)

This is either a genius budget or a horror - at this moment in time it has yet to be seen ; that is a direct quote from the money markets. It could draw more investment into the UK (which boosts the economy) or take it away (not so good for the economy) - all yet to be determined.

At the moment there are lots of people who are concerned about what this means for them, we’ve all been expecting a budget like this but now it’s been announced and is “done” some people are worried about the longer term consequences, and some people aren’t.

OP only you can decide if the budget will effect you, and how.

you pay more if you fly by private jet 🤣🤣🤣

but not proportionally any more than everyone else - everyone is paying more.

Too true

And so many of the population use private jets….. and those that do probably don’t give a toss anyway

Yes. Labour want to tax people loads of money (the largest tax grab in many years) to give to the public sector.

Unfortunately it's hard to do because they promised loads of stuff in the election run up. However they have managed to weasel their way round it by raising something they said they wouldn't under the guise of it being on businesses and not personal.

They've been largely successful in the respect it won't hit most people personally in a way they can directly see. It will affect them of course. They just haven't figured out how yet. So the budget has largely been successful in the smoke and mirrors department.

Unfortunately the markets are a bit wiser to the smoke and mirrors, and bond yields and the currency are all over the place atm.

The whole thing has got some legs and will take some time to unwind yet.

Which countries are you talking about?