Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

I'll be able to afford to eat and pay for gas and electric now! :)

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

thanks for the list, to me what stands out is a corp tax rate drop which wont be effective other than to reduce tax intake when we supposed to be closing a deficit, and the merging of NI with income tax.

On the latter is the most interesting as NI was originally created to specifically fund pensions and incapacity benefit, recent changes to IB will almost demolish it as a benefit as long term plans are to kick most people of it and overall NI still has a large surplus used for other purposes so in effect NI has become a generic tax source so the merge makes some sense I guess. However thinking about it a bit more this comes a tax cut by stealth to corp's again as currently companies pay half of NI themselves whilst the employee pays income tax. So it will be interesting to see how a migration is handled, would people in effect see a net salary reduction taking over the company part of NI as income tax or will it be handled in a manner where the average worker doesnt lose out.

On the corp tax people may (rightly) feel all the aggressive cuts going on in social services etc. are simply a way of shifting money to corporate profits with this tax cut.

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

Is that your personal view or do you have citations from a spectrum of economists to indicate that it will have zero stimulating effect on the private sector and will not be a pro-growth policy?

If it suits their agenda I'm sure that's how they feel, especially if basing that view on your assumption that the corporation tax reduction will have no stimulating effect on the economy.

Ireland's experience says otherwise.

Damn those vicious cuts.

Planned Public Sector Spending in £ billion

Year Change
2010-11 696.8 0.0
2011-12 701.8 +5.0
2012-13 713.0 +12.2
2013-14 724.2 +11.2
2014-15 739.8 +15.6

---------- Post added at 17:48 ---------- Previous post was at 17:37 ----------

No, they aren't going to shove employer's NI onto the employee, that would be absurd. It'll be replaced by something else most likely or at very least employers required to hand that money to employees in increased salary or hourly rate so that they are no worse off.

There is nothing in this budget to shift burdens from corporations to individuals, the only policies that may give that impression are, rightly, being done to promote growth. The temporary VAT cut was to promote increased consumer spending, the corporation tax cut is to promote increased business activity in the UK, the kind that is needed to create jobs, those lovely things that turn people from welfare claimants into tax payers and mean money for the treasury instead of outlay from the DWP.

If you're looking for a nasty tax rise try this:

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

a) Shop insurance is heavily loaded if you sell/stock cigs. The more you stock the higher the premium.

b) Depends on what you charge, a £6.47 price marked pack of Golden Virginia 25g would earn you around 40p. 20 L & B price marked £5.85 would get you around 25p.

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

why am I not surprised on the carbon tax. That one is indeed nasty as already some of the poor pay over 40% of income on electric/gas. It does seem they going out of their way to make (a) low income pay more tax and especially (b) shift taxation to benefit claimants. Easily done by taxing essentials and not taxing income.

All I am seeing is taxation been shifted from forms of taxation that the poor are excempt from such as income tax and NI (both benefit claimants dont pay and low income pay less), to consumption taxation which affects everyone equally and as a result is disproportioned to ability to pay.

My view on the corp tax is just my view yes, obviously I cannot state fact for something that hasnt happened, my view is quite simple really.

If a company wants to save on corp tax they will simply go to a tax haven, dropping a few % wont change that as the tax haven will still be cheaper, so all it will really serve is to boost profits, increase shareholder dividends as a result of the boosted profits and enlarge some exec bonuses. There is a slim chance workers would see wage increases as a result but I think that is unlikely. I would be extremely surprised if corp tax intake increased following this change.

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

Where does the increase in tax-free allowance threshold fit into what you are seeing?

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

could someone clarify if the change in the tax free threshold will come into affect for the 10-11 or 11-12 tax year

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

It goes up £1000 this April, and another £600 in April 2012.

---------- Post added at 19:13 ---------- Previous post was at 19:09 ----------

My Daughter put £10 worth of petrol in her car tonight (at 6:30pm).

She paid a penny more per litre than this time last week. So much for the reduction.

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

Thanks for that. I get an idea of how much I'm depriving him of now :)

have you noticed a drop in sales of rolling tobacco since everyone started buying it on the black market? I know a lot of shops don't stock the 50g because nobody buys the stuff when you can get 2 for the same price.

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

cheers for that Paul M :tu: that will be a handy chunk towards my anual refund

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

That one is an oddity only happened because of lib dems.

---------- Post added at 20:02 ---------- Previous post was at 19:45 ----------

I see they following the trend of propping up the housing market, something governments just refuse to let go downwards.

It should be simple, if you cant afford to buy a home then dont buy one.

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

it is part of the budget that you claim is doing nothing but take cash away from the low paid. Either it is doing as you said, or it is not. Which?

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

More peole are rolling now hence why HMG has targetted that market. Interestingly customers' theory is that they will smoke less due to the hassle of rolling. :shrug:
HMG's action plays straight into the hands of smugglers...

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

OVerall it is, as I said its an oddity. It is just one part of a budget.

If you dont understand what I mean then I am sorry.

Re: Budget 2011: Government 'due £8bn windfall'
 

Just watched the budget in full, seemed quite 'coalition'. Less on the fiscal right than would be expected from an all Tory budget but considerably to the right of what would be expected of the Liberal Democrats.

Seemed quite responsible and largely reasonable, a few good measures in it to promote growth, a couple of measures to try and ease the pain of inflation and all apparently costed by the OBR. Responsibility seemed to be the order of the day - a pleasing and pragmatic contrast to declaring a ton of spending commitments, pulling growth figures out of the hindmost, borrowing according to an arbitrary 'golden rule' and bombastic announcements of the end of boom and bust using unbalanced public and private debt fuelled growth along with an unprecedented asset boom as some sort of evidence.