The budget 2014

[VikkiMumsnet]

George Osborne is all set to deliver this year's budget on Wednesday 19th March.

Here's a useful link for what's expected to be covered. Headline issues are likely to include property tax and stamp duty, as well as an increase in the personal tax allowance (up to £10,000).

What do you want to see as part of the budget, and what are you dreading coming up? Share your thoughts below.

Will someone tell Laura that "Middle Income families" buy £200-250 K homes with £100-150k Mortgages .

Laura's incendiary posts are a well known MN phenomena.
Do not worry about her.

I do think that as a country we need to look more towards equality of opportunity, rather than just equality

Agree.

As for Laura not sure what you are on. £40k stamp duty - sorry but that is incredible as means that as first time buyers they could well afford more than the average home. I have no sympathy

I'm also an accountant and believe that you cannot close every tax loophole as people just come up with schemes to get around the rules whatever they may be.

I'm not sure it is the politics of envy. More like the politics of "me". People are incredibly selfish and cannot see beyond their immediate bubble and empathise with people in other situations.

Oh god someone shoot me! I agree with Laura (but only about universal credit) I don't understand how she can be such a maniac in other respects and yet still support the 'liberal' universal credit

not politics of envy for me. for me it's about basic economics and the need for money to be in circulation being spent rather than in overseas investment portfolios.

you need to be able to sell a lot of 'stuff' and a lot of services - the more money flows downwards the more it gets spent, the more it is hogged at the top the less is spent.

i think i recognise laura as a reincarnation of xenia.

incidentally the idea that we should just let old people die so that little princesses don't have to pay so much stamp duty on their first mansion is... well.

Despite what LauraB said about her daughters I agree that the state is far too bloated and i'd like to see real cuts be made. As a country we are still massively in debt and it doesn't feel like many are particularly bothered about that.

My hope is that this budget isn't just tinkering around the edges.

As for this notion of Universal credit, it's turning into a bit of a MN mantra these days. Urp, not for me and think it would be a disaster particularly in a world of open EU borders (come one, come all for your 10k)... but thankfully not something the Tories will promote!

So massively in debt. These cuts you mention, do you mean cutting spending? Or tax? Or both?

I would like to see spending cut. I could provide a list of services i would like to see cut but I for one would like to see a dramatic reduction in local govt... I know it's not popular but, seriously, in a world of globalization is there really a need for different approaches and services in Ayrshire vs East Renfrwshire? Sorry I dirge we but the amt we pay in council tax is a crime.

I would prefer that taxes remain as is and get channelled into debt reduction. I just think people believe we are a wealthy country whereas we are actually in enormous debt. Ideally long term id like to see VAT cut as well as a cut in income tax.

This thread is bonkers.

Since when was

"£2-3 Million" moderate?

And tbh, the money these days is more likely to have been earned from property speculation than employment.

I would like to see:

higher IHT - you don't need the money when you are dead
replace council tax with US style % property taxes (uncapped)
merge National Insurance and Income Tax
criminal liability for tax avoiders - the likes of Jimmy Carr etc. should NOT be able to blame their accountants and just pay the unpaid tax. All such schemes should be required to be accompanied by forms acknowledging liability go to prison.

I think as a country, we need to have a really really really good think about what we want/expect from the State. Much of what the State does (health and education particularly) was being doen prior to the introduction of the welfare state - with, one has to acknowledge, a degree of success.

The use of mutuals in particular could really transform the way services are provided, but instead we seem to be hell bent on going down the road which sees the State becoming increasingly larger.

I just need my brain to keep working. My father worked full time until he almost died. My children's other grandfather at 88 is still working. If you like your work you carry on with it particularly if you made a sensible choice of work which not all women do.

I am not suggesting my 20 something daughters are in poverty (and their stamp duty was £10k and £30k respectively on their 1 and 2 bed flats in London). However it is not easy in London working very hard and trying to buy your first place. Stamp duty is far too high. It used to be 1% in my day on the more expensive homes only. It also stops people moving. I could not decide to swap this house for one of similar value by moving as the stamp duty would be too high.

£10k isn't much on the price of a house. What are you whinging about? I'm sure you know how house prices are determined, and that knocking £10k off the stamp duty would just add £10k to the price.

Will you remember to take your pills when your mental faculties begin to fade, or will you forget where you put them?

£10k would imply a price of around £300k ish. For a one bed flat that is high. So they're not exactly struggling.

In the grand scheme of things, 10k isn't that much; however, I beleive Laura's point was that were she to move to a similar sized property, for a similar value, it would give rise to a tax charge. This liability isn't one that (to my knowledge) would be covered with a mortgage.

I agree that Stamp Duty is far too high. That's why I'd say that everyone that's clamouring on board with the proposed LibDem mansion tax needs to think long and hard. It won't be long before Mansions are determined to be anything above in today's money 250k.

10k would imply a price of around 300k ish. For a one bed flat that is high. So they're not exactly struggling.

So what. I think she acknowledged that her daughters weren't in poverty.

I do agree that stampy duty does stop you moving. We want to move but are put off by having to pay a huge % as this makes it difficult for us as we don't have that money and it would reduce the vskue of the house we can buy and means we have less to reduce our mortgage. I cannot complain though as we are relatively well off.

You can (and should) complain. Arguing for lower taxes doesn't make you evil. Using an argument advanced previously, how much more money would be in circulation if stamp duty was abolished? More people would move, more money would be spent on rennovating homes...........

Taxes in this country are too high. We need to be trusted to spend our own money. The flip side of course is that we have to live with the consequences of the choices we make. I'd be happy with that.

I don't think all taxes are too high. I think some taxes are too high and need updating to reflect today's world eg stamp duty being stepped and council Tax based on outdated house prices.

I think we need a safety net for those who cannot help themselves and need support.

I've been one of those people as a child and am thankful that the state did not punish me for my parents' choices and failures. And it paid off as now I am a high earner and can contribute to society.

I was contrasting now and when I bought. It is very hard for young people. Her father paid £10k a very very generous donation which in the old days would have gone towards the very very hard to raise deposit. It is hard to save anything in your first job in London. That would have been a good chunk of the deposit.Instead the state confiscated the lot to ensure it remains bloated, can pay its interest from its over borrowing and to fund unjust foreign wars and the like. (Grotty 1 bed, not mansion).

We do need a safety net, I absolutely agree. I do think that the system is open to abuse. I also think we might be plesantly surprised if we allowed the State to step back from some things. The State does not have to be the provider of the safety net.

Stamp duty is stepped (unless you mean the removal of the cliff edge). Council Tax being based on old prices isn't much of an issue (except for when making comparisons with regards to new builds). I think if we're going to have some form of local tax, then it should be a poll tax. I think that would be "fairer"

Ulitmately though, I'd like to see council tax scrapped.

Lastly, as your case (and my own is not dis-similar) highlights, money spent on Educating the young (and providing equality of opportunity) is money well spent.

The State does not have to be the provider of the safety net

I disagree. It didn't work in times gone by and those whose are seen as deserving would be the only beneficiaries. But the classification of deserving would no doubt mean that mistakes were made.

I mean that stamp duty shouldn't be stepped I.e. a big step from 1 to 3% depending on price paid. It should be only done as income tax I.e. the % increase only kicks in for the elements over each threshold (am I making sense?!)

I agree about council tax although I think local government should be strengthened and less in the centre. Taxes collected centrally, distributed locally and spent locally. Given that councils get huge grants from the centre anyway they should just go all the way. But central taxes would need to be upped to make the shortfall up.

Taxes levied on the value of property have the great advantage that unlike taxes on income, it is very much harder to hide a house.

Taxes collected centrally, distributed locally and spent locally.

Why not collected locally - and cut out the administrative mire that is Whitehall?

Talkin The reason you wouldn't collect taxes locally is because it'd be inefficient to do that. Council Tax (a tax levied and collected locally) is probably one of the most inefficient taxes out there (VAT being the most efficient I'd guess).

Piglet We don't tax wealth ion this country, and I think it'd be wrong to do that (personal opinion). That's not to say we shouldn't close loopholes that allow people to hide their income.

TGH I don't think it would be a bad thing to reintroduce a sense of 'deserving' and 'undeserving' Some of the problem we have with the welfare state (and its abuse) is that people don't necessarily realise that the government doesn't have its own money. Also, in times gone by, people were part of mutuals/unions that would have provided in times of hardship. Of course that would have been dependent on having paid in (a point I made in the second post of this thread) which is a principle I fear we've moved too far from.