Well done George Osborne - stonking budget

[claig]

Tax free Allowance rising to £11000
40% tax threshold rising to £43000
Corporation Tax falling to 19% and then 18%
National Living Wage will reach £9 by 2020, will start at £7.20

If they carry on like this, Labour are finished and poor old UKIP and Farage won't stand a chance of getting a look in. But credit where credit is due - well done Osborne!

Soon be back to the days where only the wealthy and privileged can train to become doctors, lawyers etc, regardless of ambition and intelligence. Not a great budget for the low earners.

'Claig
Could you explain who you think should be looked after in a budget?

Not those on benefits
Not the poor
Not the disabled
Not families
Not entrepeneurs
Who then?'

In my opinion, the number one priority should be disabled people and then the working poor and then the squeezed middle and business. The reason is we must create a business environment that favours work and growth in order to generate enough revenue to pay for our welfare state and the MPs in Westminster's cleaner bills.

It is a marvellous budget. If you value spin over substance.
George Osborne is positioning himself to take on Boris in 4 years time. He'd had to admit defeat on finding his headline 12 billion of welfare cuts. They can't make their sums add up. The return to surplus has been postponed until after the next election.
There are benefits for the upper middle and top tier. There is tinkering around fringe benefits. But if you are anything less than 'useful' then you must take your punishment. Pensioners and business are not battered. Go figure.

I looked at the budget calculator on the guardian and three scenarios for married couples with 2 kids - if you are well paid, say both working full time earning £50k each you are better off by £283 a week. For 'middle' incomes - say one on 40k other on 20k you are £160 better off. If you both work a 40 hour week at his 'living wage' rate, giving you each a salary of £14,860 he has nicked £1,172 more from your pocket. If you are a single parent, you are similarly robbed by the loss of the tax credit system, only if you earn more than £32,800 do you start to benefit. This budget is devastating for so many hard working families and a con.

Lots of people on here seem overjoyed at this budget. I guess things in your world are going fine and you perhaps don't give a stuff about anyone else.
The real reason that this budget has been ok, (and it HAS NOT been anything more than ok) is because of the huge pressure put on the government by campaigning groups such as 38 degrees and various charities. This campaigning, without doubt, made the government think it's approach to slaughtering those at the bottom end of society. They will continue to cause the poor of this country to become even poorer but they will simply do it at a slower rate.
Every week in the news we read of more and more jobs being axed but at the same time the jobless are slated for being lazy and benefit scroungers.
What we really need in this country are jobs, fair wages and affordable housing. Many big businesses are paying minimum wages, giving zero hour contracts and at the same time paying little or no tax although they have produced massive profits.
For anyone who gives a damn for any other, less fortunate, person in this country please keep on (or start) campaigning because this government will be absolutely brutal with its citizens if they feel there is no objection.
Yes, we need a fair state but fair does not mean making the poor, poorer and the rich much, much richer.

It absolutely is going to affect wealthy pensioners - the ones I know, anyway, who get a lot of their income from dividends. Average pensioners not so much. I can also think of quite a few well-off people who were doing the limited company thing and will lose a lot via that.
In general this budget is going to shaft young people - if only they would VOTE more as a group!

It seems good to me.
The Tories were voted in & here's their budget - you can't really complain can you ( well you can but it won't do any good )
I'm useless with politics, but the working families tax credit thing always seemed a bit odd - keeping wages low & subsidising the employers? why not just up the mimimum wage ? - that's what they've done so great!
The vast majority of people in this country were sick to death of the 'benefit culture' that labour had created, ( labour like keeping people dependant on the stats for some reason? ) the view is 'if you want 6 kids you pay for then' - not many people could argue with that.
The state should be there to help the most vulnerable in society - the disabled & their carers. I'd give them double what they're getting now.
Any able bodied adult without severe social problems should be fending for themselves.
So yes. Overall it's a good budget.

The real reason that this budget has been ok, (and it HAS NOT been anything more than ok) is because of the huge pressure put on the government by campaigning groups

Ah right, so we were all idiots for voting them in (as you keep telling us) and yet, when they turn out not to be the baby eating monsters the hysterical left predicted it's because of your campaign groups?

Bollocks

It's because they were never going to be that bad, but a lot of ridiculous people couldn't resist the chance to wail, gnash their teeth & generally over-egg the whole business!!!

I'm even more confident than ever that I voted the right party in....

keeping wages low & subsidising the employers? why not just up the mimimum wage ? - that's what they've done so great!

It's a nice idea but the new 'living wage' still falls short of an actual living wage and the cuts it tax credits leave people at the bottom worse off because they are still on a low wage, albeit a rebranded one. In addition the public sector pay cap means people who have seen a pay cut in real terms over the past 5 years are likely to see another one if the cost of living continues to rise over the next 5 years. By 2020 public sector workers will be learning less in real terms than they were in 2010 and nurses and AHPs with degrees working in Dave's 7-day NHS won't be on much more than min wage. I imagine NQTs will be in a similar position, slightly more than min wage with potential pay rises capped. I wouldn't be surprised if lots of teachers/HCPs/Council workers decided the games not worth the candle.

As a public sector worker I do my job because I love it. At present, it is less than minimum wage after travel and childcare costs are taken into account.

I know- I 100% agree with you. The left wing love to say how wrong we all are, how brainwashed we have been, when someone gives an example of people choosing not to work and claim benefits or who are pretending to live apart when they do no such thing we are shouted down, told we are making it up and there will be more to the example then we are stating etc etc.

The thing is the left can rant and complain. They can post rude and swearing emails on forums but how is that going to change things???

If it was really true that the Tory party were uncaring idiots then surely there would be no welfare state at All!!

As a public sector worker I do my job because I love it. At present, it is less than minimum wage after travel and childcare costs are taken into account

I think it's unsustainable to try and run essential services such as health and education on the basis that people will work for low wages because they love it. Why pay £27K in uni fees to become a teacher to earn very little more than min wage when the starting salary for a TA will rise by 30-40% compared to a NQTs 1%? Why take the responsibility of nursing when band 5 workers aren't earning much more than bands 1-4?

Someone asked about how nurseries and pre-schools will survive - I predict they'll be even more largely run by under 25's. As I work in this sector (though not currently) and am over 25 I don't think it will be good for me. I can't see them finding towards ?9 an hour - especially if they have the loop-hole of employing younger workers on less. I expect the same will happen in other sectors

if it was really true that the Tory party were uncaring idiots then surely there would be no welfare state at All!!

There eventually won't be.

Well, what an appalling budget for anybody not rich or not earning fucktons of money.

Also, he expects to be in surplus by 2020 and remain in surplus. What? He's relying on ordinary workers to do this, it's just utter madness. Austerity is self defeating, it takes money out of the economy, not the other way round. People have less money to spend, banks don't lend to start ups and SMEs because they're not sure if they'll get repaid, asset prices rise etc. Taking out the financial sector the economy is not in recovery, and his measures are not going to help.

Yes there will Fanjo, don't be so dramatic. Even if they wanted that (which they don't) we are in a democracy remember? They would never stay in power or get voted in again with policies that extreme, and you know it. Comments like that are rididulous. It's like saying that the Labour Party want to turn us into communist China, all wearing the same uniform and being called onto the street en masse andeach morning to do our exercises before all marching to the factories.

If we are going to talk about politics let's keep it sensible.

I have a friend who's husband has a small business, she doesn't work, claims tax credits and receives more money in tax credits than my public sector wage. she is totally able to work but chooses not to because the tax credits give them enough for their needs.

It's an appalling budget if you cannot work for whatever reason and have more than two children. Like MrsDV above who will lose massively due to family disability.

It's crap if you are on ESA lots of folk on ESA have mental health issues and this cut is not going to improve it.

£12bn of welfare cuts but they are only going after £5bn in tax evasion ...speaks volumes.

I will be no better or worse off apparantly but if I go back to work during DS's settled periods (aa I am wont to do) then I will be worse off and significantly so ...with a disabled child.

And the Living Wage Foundation does not recognise Gideon's "Living Wage" which is significantly lower than their notion of a living wage.

The two child thing I'd support totally if it was truly applied to all children born after April 2017 so that children already born would never be affected.

Nasty budget from the nasty party...that has also legitimated all the vicious Tory ideologues to spout their rubbish about hard work, benefit scroungers...blah blah blah

It is nasty for poor students, the disabled, the low paid, the young, children in larger families of the future etc etc.

It is jolly good news for businesses of course.

I also think it's a good budget. Not because I think it is fair people lose out now. But because I think it is the most progressive in terms of restructuring the way the country is run. This is my opinion. Despite my husband being a business owner, he will swallow the cut in his profit and raise the wages of his employees. Despite being a student who currently doesn't get a huge amount of support from the government anyway due to doing a second degree (nursing, now medicine). I study a very academically challenging course and manage to work to earn the £9k per year in fees on top. If students struggle to cope on maintenance, working whilst learning is always an option.
Regarding NHS jobs with lots of student debt. Nursing fees are paid. Physio fees are paid. Unfortunately paramedic is not but some trusts do provide support. It also needs to be noted that a band 5 entry level salary is not the true salary you earn. On top of that you get shift allowance which is very significant and London or outer London weighting if you work in London or some parts of the home counties. My basic wage as an entry level band 5 nurse was around £21k, I actually took home closer to £28k in Essex, I really don't think this is that bad.

No budget will be perfect. I do feel for some of those hit. I agree with limiting tax credit to 2 children, the raise in wages, the increase threshold for tax and many other elements of the budget
I do worry for the disabled and those who slip through the net to end up in a poor situation through no personal fault.

It is jolly good news for businesses of course.
No its not.
Its absolutely shit for small businesses.

Partnerships and sole traders will not benefit from the CT cut but will have the wage rises for their staff
Micro business are just waking up to a massive hole in their take home pay
Charities will no longer get R&D credits so will cut spending

unintended consequences in the small print

only BIG business has benefited