What do you think about the mini-budget?

Tori_Scope

Income tax

• Cut in basic rate of income tax to 19% from April 2023
• Government estimates 31 million people getting £170 a year more
• Currently, people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland pay 20% on any annual earning between £12,571 to £50,270 - rates in Scotland are different
• 45% higher rate of income tax abolished for England, Wales and Northern Ireland taxpayers
• One single higher rate of income tax of 40% from April next year

National Insurance

• Reverse recent rise in National Insurance (NI) from 6 November
• Workers and employers have paid an extra 1.25p in the pound since April
• New Health and Social Care Levy to pay for the NHS will not be introduced

Corporation tax

• Cancel UK-wide rise in corporation tax which was due to increase from 19% to 25% in April 2023

Benefits

• Rules around universal credit tightened, by reducing benefits if people don't fulfil job search commitments
• Around 120,000 more people on Universal Credit to be asked to take steps to seek more work, or face having their benefits reduced
• Jobseekers over 50 to be given extra time with work coaches to help them return to job market

Work and investment

• IR35 rules - the rules which govern off-payroll working - to be simplified
• Annual investment allowance, the amount companies can invest tax free, remains at £1m indefinitely
• Regulations change so pensions funds can increase UK investments
• New and start-up companies able to raise up to £250,000 under scheme giving tax relief to investors
• Share options for employees doubled from £30,000 to £60,000

Stamp duty

• Cut to stamp duty which is paid when people buy a property in England and Northern Ireland
• No stamp duty on first £250,000 and for first time buyers that rises to £425,000 - comes into operation today
• 200,000 more people will be taken out of paying stamp duty altogether, government claims

Energy

• Freeze on energy bills, which the government claims will reduce inflation by 5 percentage points
• Total cost for the energy package expected to be around £60bn for the six months from October

Bankers' bonuses

• Rules which limit bankers' bonuses scrapped
• Package of regulatory reforms to be set out later in the autumn

Shopping

• VAT-free shopping for overseas visitors
• Planned increases in the duties on beer, for cider, for wine, and for spirits cancelled

Infrastructure and investment zones

• Government discussing setting up investment zones with 38 local areas in England
• Tax cuts and liberalised planning rules to be offered to release land for housing and commercial use
• Investment zones offered measures such as no business rates and stamp duty waived
• New legislation to cut planning rules, get rid of EU regulations and environmental assessments in an effort to speed up building

At a glance: What's in the mini-budget? (BBC News)

Over to you...

• Does the mini-budget go far enough in addressing the cost of living crisis?
• How do you think the mini-budget will affect you?
• Is there anything you wanted to see in the mini-budget that hasn't been included?

POGGYFLOSS

for me, access friendly,eco homes are missing

Bamboo

At least they're not even trying to be subtle any more.

Reverse Robin Hood springs to mind. Rob from the poor, give to the rich!!

leeCal

What happened to helping people with the cost of living crisis? These measures are supposed to create a trickle down effect in the country, firstly that takes time and secondly Bermuda is likely to benefit more than we are!

They reveal themselves for what they really are. 

As Groucho Marx said “time wounds all heels.”

(a heel is a bad person by the way)

janer1967

I have no words suitable for this forum on this topic 

Tori_Scope

Thanks to everyone who's shared their thoughts so far Do you think disabled people are going to be particularly affected?

leeCal

Personally I think pip rates are woefully low. They say we receive pip because disabled people have extra costs to bear, but did anyone ever calculate those costs effectively and have they risen with inflation and are those rises reflected adequately in the pip rates, I think not. 

I am grateful for pip but I for one will be spending it on energy energy bills from October, is that right? Is that what pip was supposed to be spent on in the first place? Again I think not.

bg844

I have to agree once again with leeCal. I think PIP needs to increase and the so called ‘Christmas Bonus’ should rise too.

Karen7788

I think it’s going to effect the majority of people in this country in a negative way. Those that are struggling now will be struggling even more and those that are just about coping will start to struggle.
They used the pebble dash effect for furlough instead of targeting help and they’re doing the same with energy support for businesses, we now know who’s going to foot the bill and it’s not the well off. 

We’re all dreading Theresa Coffey’s fabulous ideas for the NHS at my workplace, we’re not holding out with much hope. 
I think we’re in for a rocky few years and probably an early general election, there’s no magic wand to sort out this mess. 

calcotti

bg844 said:

I have to agree once again with leeCal. I think PIP needs to increase and the so called ‘Christmas Bonus’ should rise too.

The Christmas Bonus should frankly be abolished - it has never increased but no government has ever wanted to be the one the one to abolish it.

calcotti

Karen7788 said:

I think we’re in for a rocky few years and probably an early general election, 

The first part, yes. Sadly, the second part probably not (in my opinion) so more time to make an even bigger mess for whatever government follows.

In theory this is the same government that was elected in 2019 but the new administration is clearly significantly different to the one headed by Boris (I hesitate to say lead by) and it’s bizarre that such a huge policy change can happen without a general election.

Cartini

calcotti said:

Karen7788 said:

I think we’re in for a rocky few years and probably an early general election, 

The first part, yes. Sadly, the second part probably not (in my opinion) so more time to make an even bigger mess for whatever government follows.

In theory this is the same government that was elected in 2019 but the new administration is clearly significantly different to the one headed by Boris (I hesitate to say lead by) and it’s bizarre that such a huge policy change can happen without a general election.

I hear you, but the last manifesto didn`t say anything about increasing National Insurance to provide funds for care.  A party is voted in for many reasons, rightly or wrongly: the manifesto appeals to the voter, the leader of the party is liked (regardless of manifesto), tactical voting and the list goes on.  Unfortunately, when a party is elected to office, that`s a mandate for them to make decisions for the good (or bad) of the country and the budget today is an example of that.  As a tax-payer, I`m glad the NI decision has been reversed. I`m also glad that the lower rate of tax has dropped by a penny - I`d rather it were in my pocket than theirs.

But as someone who has quite a pragmatic approach to life, the budget today will come back and bite us in the ar se in the future; borrowed monies have to be paid back somehow.

It doesn`t bother me about bankers and their cap being removed, they can have their money and their high stress life.  I`d rather be me, with my little pocket of money in my little house where I can close the curtains at night and forget all about the "big world" for a while.

calcotti

Cartini said: I`m glad the NI decision has been reversed. 

Although the NI changes made by Sunak actually meant that low paid workers paid less NI not withstanding the rate increase because of the increase in the threshold at which he started. Now we have the higher threshold but the same previous rate.

Cartini said:

I`m also glad that the lower rate of tax has dropped by a penny - I`d rather it were in my pocket than theirs.

And do you want public services to be available for you and your fellow citizens need them.

bg844

The Christmas Bonus should frankly be abolished - it has never increased but no government has ever wanted to be the one the one to abolish it.

I’d be more than happy for it to go personally, the cost of administrating it comes close to the actual payment sadly nowadays. However, every year I see post after post on people questioning if they’ve received it or not. This is either curiosity or they’re in need of further financial support hence why I think PIP (and all the other disability benefits) should rise. I know there isn’t a ‘magic money tree’ as once said by Theresa May but as costs are rising significantly a one-off payment seen by the government as a ‘quick fix’ isn’t it and quite frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if we seen help like this again because it’s not just energy rising.

I’m one of the lucky ones who have quite significant savings and who aren’t eligible for UC but seeing as PIP is my sole income at this time we are all feeling the pinch. Soon a time will come when I will be able to claim and even sooner due to the cost of living.

Cartini

calcotti said:

Cartini said: I`m glad the NI decision has been reversed. 

Although the NI changes made by Sunak actually meant that low paid workers paid less NI not withstanding the rate increase because of the increase in the threshold at which he started. Now we have the higher threshold but the same previous rate.

Unless I`m completely missing something, everyone pays less NI insurance now.  Increasing the NI band to match the Income Tax band means that a lot of people don`t pay any NI, just as they don`t pay IT.  Reversing the "care" NI and leaving the higher threshold in place means everyone is paying less.

Cartini said:

I`m also glad that the lower rate of tax has dropped by a penny - I`d rather it were in my pocket than theirs.

And do you want public services to be available for you and your fellow citizens need them.

Good point, but the few extra pennies I`m going to get a month will make absolutely no difference to funding services.  Removing the 45% tax threshold was completely wrong, that should have been increased to cover the 1p reduction of the lower threshold.

racyguy

People seem to be missing the bigger picture.
The budget is intended to reverse the downward trend of this country. If you make the country strong again from the top the wealth created along with the extra taxes being paid it is hoped that lower down the wealth scale, they too will see things improve. It will take time for all of this to bed in so give her a chance and not to expect that things will improve for everyone by next Monday.

calcotti

Biblioklept said:

I would likely be banned if I shared my thoughts on the budget. 
I honestly can't believe some people still think they're doing it "for the bigger picture". 

Agreed. There is no evidence that 'trickle down' works as observed by Jo Biden a few days ago when he tweeted that “I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked."

racyguy

leeCal said:

Personally I think pip rates are woefully low. They say we receive pip because disabled people have extra costs to bear, but did anyone ever calculate those costs effectively and have they risen with inflation and are those rises reflected adequately in the pip rates, I think not. 

I am grateful for pip but I for one will be spending it on energy energy bills from October, is that right? Is that what pip was supposed to be spent on in the first place? Again I think not.

First of all, you can spend your PIP money on anything you fancy. 

Every PIP claimant will have different needs costing different amounts of money.
Some will have no increased costs. How would the government be able to work that out?
What you get is a token acceptance that most people have some extra costs.

racyguy

On the whole it is a good start to changing how this country needs to grow.

racyguy

Teddybear12 said:

I do not think the worlds markets would agree with you !!!

The knee jerk reaction by the world's markets is simply that - it is yesterday's news, and the financial markets will stabilise and get back to where they were.

elahrairah

It's the same stuff time and time again, but it only ever makes the situation worse.  But because it doesn't work, instead of saying, "OK this only makes the rich richer and the poor poorer and puts the country deeper in debt making our kids even poorer again" they double down and say, oh we didn't do it hard enough.  It's economically illiterate, socially irresponsible, and won't do what they want it to do.