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The Budget

Highlights:

2p off basic rate of income tax
10p starter rate abolished
2p cut in corporation tax
Gas guzzling car duty up to £300 this year and £400 next
Beer and cider up 1p, wine 5p, spirits duty frozen
11p on cigarettes
2p petrol increase frozen for six months

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6472999.stm


Mmm... it's all very well to cut the basic rate but if the starter rate is abolished most poorly paid people are going to be worse off aren't they?

I see that he's cut corporation tax as well. A sweetener to business leaders from the soon-to-be new PM? :chin:

Quite pleased about the increased car duty for gas guzzlers though :)
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Beer and cider up 1p, wine 5p, spirits duty frozen
    11p on cigarettes

    Once again hammer the drinkers and smokers.

    :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Cigs shouldnt have gone up, there are enough smuggled already, but there should have been a chunk more than that on beer, wine and spirits.

    As for whether this is good or bad for low earners, its far too early to say, but I suspect the removal of the 10p rate isnt a good thing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    budda wrote: »
    Cigs shouldnt have gone up, there are enough smuggled already.

    :yes:

    All increasing the duty on ciggies does is increase smuggling.

    The removal of the 10p tax rate is just a way of clawing back the money saved by the reduction of the 22% tax rate to 20%. It just punishes those on low salaries.

    :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Unsurprising that Brown looks after Scottish whisky interests again and doesn't touch spirits duty. If you enjoy beer though...and up 1p means breweries/pubs will put it up 3-4p.

    11p on cigarettes is a disgrace. Britain treats smokers like shit and smokers continue to pay more and more to the government. Luckily I'm not a particularly heavy smoker so being in Europe a few times a year is enough for me to stock up so I don't have to buy smokes in Britain.

    Meh tbh I'm so fed up of Britain. Whatever Brown does Britain will remain an expensive country to live in; we have high taxes and a high cost of living. Meh, as soon as I'm out of uni I'll go to Berlin. Germany, esp Berlin is cheaper than Britain and there's a higher standard of living. But, don't tell anyone else, most Brits don't know how great Germany is - and frankly I hope it stays that way.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    nothing particularly surprising/interesting was there, using the sleight of hand with taxes to try and bribe the voters but at the end of the day we'll still be out of pocket...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    But, don't tell anyone else, most Brits don't know how great Germany is - and frankly I hope it stays that way.

    Just take care what you question or deny.;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    nothing particularly surprising/interesting was there, using the sleight of hand with taxes to try and bribe the voters but at the end of the day we'll still be out of pocket...

    Currently, the personal allowance before tax kicks in is £5,035. The next £2,150 is then 10%. See here.

    With this 10% now abolished - and tax kicking in at 20% straight away after the personal allowance, surely part time workers on low earnings are going to be hit very hard. (Which does not seem fair at all).

    It would have been fairer to leave the basic rate of income tax and increase the tax-free personal allowance. Oh and most of all it would have made sense to merge NI into income tax.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It would have been fairer to leave the basic rate of income tax and increase the tax-free personal allowance.

    That would have been a better idea, but Im sure Gordon Brown is more concerned with being seen as a 'tax cutting chancelor'

    2p off income tax makes for better headlines

    :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It would have been fairer to leave the basic rate of income tax and increase the tax-free personal allowance. Oh and most of all it would have made sense to merge NI into income tax.

    Plus of course he is piddling with NI too, so higher earners will pay more of this, but this is NI, its not income tax, its just a tax on income.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Currently, the personal allowance before tax kicks in is £5,035. The next £2,150 is then 10%. See here.

    With this 10% now abolished - and tax kicking in at 20% straight away after the personal allowance, surely part time workers on low earnings are going to be hit very hard. (Which does not seem fair at all).

    It would have been fairer to leave the basic rate of income tax and increase the tax-free personal allowance. Oh and most of all it would have made sense to merge NI into income tax.

    Not just part-time workers.

    In fact, based purely on the 10% being abolished and the 22% being cut to 20%, tou have to be earning more than £17,935 a year to be directly better off from those two changes......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Find out how much better or worse off you'll be then. I'll be £55 better off next year, and I'll hope to have got a better paid job by 2008 or I'll be screwed by the 10% thing being scrapped. Seems like single people without kids on the lowest wages are getting screwed, and people on a half decent wage (as long as it's not too much) do well out of it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yup. All Brown (and plenty of other politicians in fact) go on about is 'hard-working families.' Fair enough but it would seem fair to give single people or couples without kids a break sometime.

    This budget reinforces my disliking of Brown. Brown is hoping people will be stupid enough to forget every other tax rise and accept this tax 'cut.' (And this basically seems like a tax cut for those in the middle and a tax rise for those at the bottom).

    I'll be at uni next year so maybe only doing a bit of part time work so it won't have much effect on me. Don't have a car either so I'm okay there. And I try not to buy cigs in Britain. Increase on beer is a pain though. Nice to see Brown is looking out for Scotland's whisky industry though, has he ever increased duty on spirits? Smokers and beer drinkers get screwed over every year.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This budget reinforces my disliking of Brown. Brown is hoping people will be stupid enough to forget every other tax rise and accept this tax 'cut.' (And this basically seems like a tax cut for those in the middle and a tax rise for those at the bottom).

    I know. Hasn't the 40% threshold gone up to £40k-odd from about £35k too?

    Oh, and I reckon you're a bit paranoid about the whisky. Everyone drinks JD anyway.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The whole gas-guzzler tax is a unfair... People with the bigger engined cars already pay more tax at the fuel pumps, so why hammer them again!?

    Takes the piss really, and just a move to win the votes of the tree-huggers.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fair enough but it would seem fair to give single people or couples without kids a break sometime.

    Yeah, because we families have so much more disposable income...

    Incidentally, I'm about £100 better of because of the changes he's announced. Have a feeling that the cost of nappies will more than cover that... ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oh, and I reckon you're a bit paranoid about the whisky. Everyone drinks JD anyway.

    Maybe but doesn't really change the fact that every budget beer and smokes go up but spirits are never touched. Brown looks out for Scotland shocker I suppose.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah, because we families have so much more disposable income...

    So what? People shouldn't be punished for not having kids.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel007 wrote: »
    The whole gas-guzzler tax is a unfair... People with the bigger engined cars already pay more tax at the fuel pumps, so why hammer them again!?

    Takes the piss really, and just a move to win the votes of the tree-huggers.
    The whole idea is trying to discourage people from driving gas guzzlers isn't it?

    Can't you really think why the use of such vehicles should be discouraged?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel007 wrote: »
    The whole gas-guzzler tax is a unfair... People with the bigger engined cars already pay more tax at the fuel pumps, so why hammer them again!?

    Takes the piss really, and just a move to win the votes of the tree-huggers.

    It's certainly to win the environmental vote, and jump on the anti-4x4 bandwagon. And I think that the problem isn't people owning 4x4's, it's people unnecessarily owning 4x4's (let's face it, there is absolutely no reason for the average family to drive a 4x4 instead of an estate car or MPV). I think that there should be a reduction for anyone using a 4x4 for work reasons, or perhaps easier to impliment, for people who live in more rural areas. But otherwise, unless you're arguing that all cars should pay the same amount of road tax, I don't see how you can complain that the cars that are a bigger cause of every problem on the roads today, are charged more in road tax. And this is comng from a guy who just forked out £175 to tax his car for another year.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Meh, as soon as I'm out of uni I'll go to Berlin. Germany, esp Berlin is cheaper than Britain and there's a higher standard of living. But, don't tell anyone else, most Brits don't know how great Germany is - and frankly I hope it stays that way.

    That was my plan, too! I love Germany, though Hamburg's where it's at ;) :thumb:

    The ciggies increase is [again] a disgrace. I don't even smoke anymore and I'm outraged about it. Pfft.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In tax, how much do smokers pay for their cigarettes now?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'll figure ours out later. But my younger brother turns 16 a month before these come in. The calculator doesn't say anything about those over 16 and still in education though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's certainly to win the environmental vote, and jump on the anti-4x4 bandwagon. And I think that the problem isn't people owning 4x4's, it's people unnecessarily owning 4x4's (let's face it, there is absolutely no reason for the average family to drive a 4x4 instead of an estate car or MPV). I think that there should be a reduction for anyone using a 4x4 for work reasons, or perhaps easier to impliment, for people who live in more rural areas. But otherwise, unless you're arguing that all cars should pay the same amount of road tax, I don't see how you can complain that the cars that are a bigger cause of every problem on the roads today, are charged more in road tax. And this is comng from a guy who just forked out £175 to tax his car for another year.

    But my previous car WASN'T a 4x4. It would do over 30mpg on a run and was bought as I was able to finally get something I'd aspired to. The tax was already £190/year, which, to my mind, is enough already.

    True, I am not a fan of 4x4s, but owning a 'sports' car, to me, is a different proposition. You drive them because of the way they drive. They're a pleasure! With the 4x4 issue, they are becoming more and more removed from the original purpose of these vehicles.

    I'm not saying that 4x4s should be banned etc etc instead of putting the tax onto the consumer, why not change the rate of tax that the manufacturers have to pay on the sale of each of these vehicles.

    It just boils my piss that somebody who is a car enthusiast (and I honestly can't see how most people driving a 4x4 could be classed under this) should have to pay more for the privilage when they already are!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On my own £25 a year better off, with the missus included it's just under £100.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sofie wrote: »
    In tax, how much do smokers pay for their cigarettes now?

    Nearly 80% of the cost of every packet of cigarettes is tax.

    Given that cigarettes in Britain are already absurdly expensive compared to the rest of the EU further increases in tax just widen the gap. Expect more people to make an effort to stock up abroad. Expect more people buying loads of cigarettes abroad trying to sell them in Britain.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    briggi wrote: »
    That was my plan, too! I love Germany, though Hamburg's where it's at ;) :thumb:

    Hamburg seems pretty cool, we only had a day there so didn't see much...want to go again though. Stayed in a pretty cool hostel there though called instant sleep I think. But, for me, Berlin will always be where it's at. I've heard plenty of Germans (mainly from Bavaria) slag off Berlin but they're wrong. Although, Munich is pretty cool too, the beerhalls are fun but I don't think I'd want to live there, cool place to visit though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nearly 80% of the cost of every packet of cigarettes is tax.

    Given that cigarettes in Britain are already absurdly expensive compared to the rest of the EU further increases in tax just widen the gap. Expect more people to make an effort to stock up abroad. Expect more people buying loads of cigarettes abroad trying to sell them in Britain.

    and guess what, smoking (it seems at least from when I have been to the continent) is much more common in Europe.

    If taxing them makes Britain a nicer place then it is a good thing.....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Toadborg wrote: »
    If taxing them makes Britain a nicer place then it is a good thing.....

    And of course they should be taxed, and taxed highly. But the current level of tax just gifts a trade worth 10's of millions of pounds to criminals.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    why not ban the import of cigarettes all togather, tell people that say a packet of 20 is the most you can bring back from hoilday with you?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    budda wrote: »
    And of course they should be taxed, and taxed highly. But the current level of tax just gifts a trade worth 10's of millions of pounds to criminals.


    That doesn't make any sense.

    The primary purpose of taxing fags etc is to limit their use, and this appears to be successful.

    Criminals getting some business is irrelevant. If that was what we were mainly worried about we would hand them out free........
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