The Budget

[Emmagee]

OOOOOOO! Maternity pay will be increased from £60 to £75 in successive stages. What more can i say!

Wow, you can really go wild now on £75 per week, right then where's the party!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, girls don't spend it all at once!

Cant stop girlies, got to rush to get pregnant quick, so I can have some..............

Yeah - £100 a week from 2003! Which is when, hopefully, I'm planning to have another one!! And don't forget the working families tax credit - I worked out we are going to see an extra 30 quid in my hubby's pay packed from April. And an increase in child benefit.

And - no increase on beer, wines and spirits - we can carry on enjoying our large gins Tigger!

Unknown to me until this morning, after watching Fredrick Forsyth on BBC Breakfast, for every £1000 we put into Europe we only get £212 back. Where does the rest of the money go?, to the other countries I suppose.

Has the budget helped any of us at all, and has it made some of us worse off? I await your replies with baited breath!!!!!

We are worse off under the Family Tax Credit, than we were under the Married allowance. Having read our last years accounts to 4th April, I nearly had canary, our overheads have gone up considerably, the price of living has also gone up. We made a profit, aha, but where are my millions going!!!!!!!!!, most of it to the Inland Revenue I suspect.

But the Working Family Tax credit is unrelated to the Married couples allowance - it is the Childrens' Tax credit that replaces MCA, not WFTC - it will start next month, and if you've got it (you need to check/apply), you should get at least £36-40 more in your pay packet every month.

Right, sorry, I meant the Childs Tax Credit, a pre caffeine/food/chocolate/fag mistake!!!, pay packet doesn't apply to me, old misery guts transfers so much per month into our personal account from our business account!!!!. I do think that there are a lot of people out there who are eligible for WFTC and don't realise it, Tom you are up on these things where is the best place for these people to find out about this, Citizens Advice would they be able to help? Between severe raging hormones and trying to cut down of the fags, god I feel quite aggressive today.

I must apologise, he is not an old misery guts, he is a young misery guts!!, the business is a partnership, and it was me who decided how much we needed every month. How much do you all spend each week on food shopping, not taking into account clothes/shoes etc? Another thing, I am pleased to announce I have banned my husband from talking about Tony Blair for a day, if he says one more things about him, I'll go mad (he can't stand him), should hear him and my friend who lives in the farm next to us, the debate gets very heated and last time resulted in both of them banging the table and shouting at each other, and she NEVER shouts. Me, I just pour another drink and chill out!!!!!

Tee hee!

Croppy - the Child Tax Credit starts paying out next month - start of the financial year. You should contact your Inland Revenue office to check whether you have it on your tax profile, and if not, you need to apply for it. Should be well worth it.

For Working Families Tax Credit, just call 0845 609 5000 and you can ask whether you'll be eligible - I did this morning and we're not But they can tell you quite quickly and send out the relevant forms if you can get something. I'm sure they'd be glad to get a call from you today Tigger!!!!!!

Our food budget is £250 per month, for the three of us (me, her and him (9 months))

Ha, ha, Tom cheeky bugger!!!!!!!!!, our profit at the end of the year is split 50/50 and then divided by 52 weeks and that gives us what our income each week is after everything is paid per partner, we are not eligible for it. But, I do know of several farmers and young businesses who are getting it, these are young people who have just started on their own with young children and loads of overheads.mortgages.vehicles.animals etc to buy. They were ashamed 2 of them I know that they got it, but they are entitled to it so I am quite happy for them, but one is so annoying about it, he makes me very angry, he milks nearly 200 cows and has everything electrical gadget and implement in the house, most of us can only dream about, they also lamb over 200 sheep as well. So there milk and sheep sales in the year will be quite considerable. How he gets it I do not know, probably don't want to know either, but I do think if it is there to get then the people who are eligible for it should get it.

I must have missed something in the small print because we applied for childrens tax credit on the understanding that we would qualify for the full amount as our total income per annum is @£29000 and therefore does not come into the higher tax bracket. Our assessment told us we qualify for less than half the full amount. Perhaps I should just be grateful that we get anything after the farce re teachers threshold payments. What f union stops its members receiving a £2000 a year pay rise (and who wouldnt have applied for it given the chance). We are now told they will go through. I'll believe it when I see it.
I'll stop now, I'm getting on my soapbox!

We have just found out that my husband will be paying an extra £73.00 per month in NI. So the £43.00 we get for child tax credit is already cancelled out. As far as I can see this budget gives out with one hand and takes away with the other. I have alot of friends who have been affected by this increased national insurance and they are all young people who have either just started families or are planning them in the near future