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!

[claig]

Miliband promised £8 minimum wage by 2020, and Osborne has trumped him and said the National Living wage will be £9 by 2020.

Amazing stuff.

[Baddz]

I foresee huge rises in child poverty and homeless you people :(

[Baddz]

Young people

[slug]

Classic bait and switch. Drop hints before hand about the swinging cuts to come. Get everyone worried. Then deliver not quite as bad cuts as you hinted at, leaving the public breathing a sigh of relief.

In the meantime do nothing to recover missing tax from businesses

[Baddz]

They really screwed over the lib dems in the March budg did t they!?

[Elsashmelsa]

Another one here thinking it was a good budget.

I know this is very low on peoples radars, but I was pleased about the Vehicle Tax thing. He made a good point that why should people who can afford brand new cars not have to pay tax when individuals who can only afford older/second hand cars do have to pay.

So Vehicle tax for older cars won't be increased but people buying new cars will now have to pay around £140 (although I think after the first year and the amount is based on emissions) BUT all the money paid on vehicle tax will rightfully now go to fixing the roads.

[SueDunome]

This budget will bring the nation to its knees. How are employers supposed to be able to afford a 38% pay rise on the current minimum wage?
What about all those semi-skilled employees who already earn £9 per hour? Will employers be forced to pay them more as well, or risk them all leaving to take stress-free
work instead?

[LashesandLipstick]

It's great unless you're young and a student.

[aurorablues]

This budget will bring the nation to its knees. How are employers supposed to be able to afford a 38% pay rise on the current minimum wage?
What about all those semi-skilled employees who already earn £9 per hour? Will employers be forced to pay them more as well, or risk them all leaving to take stress-free
work instead?

More zero hour contracts and a full time working week classed as 25 hours, that's how employers will get round it eventually.

A 25 hour hour week on the full £9 hour will earn just below the threshold for tax.

So by 2020 you'll probably have quite a high percentage working below the tax threshold, and no longer classed as hardworking tax payers ;)

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

Or disabled and on wtc, lashes. Sincerely hoping I've misunderstood the slashing of the income threshold for tax credits.

Sadly I doubt I have.

[VanillaTwirl]

Good budget - sensible.

[WalkingThePlank]

SueDunome, people asked the same questions before the Minimum Wage was brought in and it didn't lead to unemployment, businesses failing etc.

Was saying to DH this morning that what I wanted most from the budget was a higher minimum wage as people should be paid a decent amount, as a sign of respect for their work. It's crazy for taxpayers to have to subsidise companies that don't pay a living wage.

I actually whooped when I turned the radio on and heard that clip.

Not sure if we'll be out of pocket ourselves so might be doing the opposite of a whoop once I've looked at the details of the budget.

[chocolatechip123]

Anyone produced an 'are you better or worse off' calculator yet?

[VanillaTwirl]

Working tax credits may be cut, but at the same time the wage earned is increasing and the tax allowance is rising - so not as catastrophic as the scare mongering.

[LashesandLipstick]

Living wage only applies to over 25s though - God knows what they've got against young people (or the disabled, sick, the poor...come to think of it anyone)

[Fatstacks]

Another Labour die-hard here.

I was expecting the worst, probably because we have had the axe of £12bn welfare cuts over our heads this month.

I can't say I'm pleased I think relieved is more apt.

[aurorablues]

It's crazy for taxpayers to have to subsidise companies that don't pay a living wage

If someone is on a zero hour contract or a 16-25 hour contract because that is all their company and many others can offer them, then they are still not paying a living wage are they?

Companies especially the larger ones need to give employees a contracted full working week of 37.5 - 40 hours. This minimum wage rise means absolutely nothing until that happens.

[coffeeisnectar]

My dd is meant to be going to uni to do a paramedic degree. The only way to get this job now as the nhs don't do access courses now.

Three years of fees plus three years of loans means she will leave with £50k of debt. She may well have to live elsewhere to work but won't be entitled to hb and will be paying back a loan.

I predict a shortage of paramedics and other relatively low paid workers which require a degree or a higher level of education. I'm stunned and gutted for her.

[IsabellaofFrance]

But what about young people? As the parent of a 14 year old I worry about his prospects.

[coffeeisnectar]

Tax credits for children have effectively just been halved btw. And housing benefit cut as well as only backdating it for four weeks.

[claig]

'My dd is meant to be going to uni to do a paramedic degree. The only way to get this job now as the nhs don't do access courses now.'

Very good point, coffeeisnectar. I didn't realise that was going on. That system needs to be changed. It's not right.

[TalkinPeace]

I hope all the small business people are pleased with the changes to the taxation of dividends .....

that is going to CLOBBER lots of freelancers

[sliceofsoup]

How are employers supposed to be able to afford a 38% pay rise on the current minimum wage?

If a business cannot afford to pay its staff a decent wage, that is in proportion to the cost of living, that business is not viable.

It is absolutely not fair that companies are taking away millions of pounds in profits each year, while the staff are paid a pittance and the government tops them up.

They couldn't have cut tax credits without tackling the other side of the problem. Well they could have, the fact they didn't is what is so pleasantly surprising.

[QuiteLikely5]

Coffieisnectar

of course it's still worth her doing a degree, over her life time she will earn way more than 50k.

[plum100]

Another one pleased here!!! Especially about the tax credits - about time families had to think about whether having 5,6,7 kids qas affordable for THEM instead of thinking the rest if us will pick up the tab. Road tax also makes sense. I guess SOME people moaning about it are the ones who will have to get off their arses and start thinking how they are going to provide for themselves for a change , and with regards to the HB cut - good - too many families not communicating and young adults leaving home thinking the gov will sort them out . Your kids - your problem - you are responsible for ensuring they are sensible mature adults that can support themselves before they leave home, if they are not - still your problem - not ours!!!! Well done George!!!!