BY BRAD JAMES
Every March spells a tenuous moment or two for the average household, as a bureaucratic bigwig emerges from Number 11, Downing Street, brandishing a red leather case and leering with smug hubris imbued by the force of their ideology. One may feel the squeeze when their pints are pulled, or experiencing a liberation of sorts at the pumps when they fill their car up for the school run, it relies heavily on balance. Such a tightrope exists for those in the offices of state too, particularly the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose toting up the books writes a cheque his party can cash at an election. Or mounts up a level of debt Whitehall’s temporary inhabitants cannot shake for nigh on a decade when ousted. 2015 is election year, a year when the Budget is about as make or break as it gets, seeing as we are in a year that where everyone is undecided and the outcome of our next government sets to be the same. What can George Osborne do to alleviate the pressure on his party and alter the political landscape, if anything?
Below is a list of the announcements from yesterday’s Budget:
1. Britain had the fastest growing economy of any G7 nation. This includes the fastest annual growth and the best growth since 2007. Yet the 2.6% did fall short of the projected 3%.
2. Debt will be falling as a share of GDP in 2015-16. The deficit forecast having dropped by half since 2009, to 5%. Aiming for a surplus of £5.2 billion, come 2018-19.
3. The tax free personal allowance is being increased in April 2017, to £11,000. In order to promote working and working families, the amount one can earn before tax stoppages will rise, to £10,800 in 2016-17 and to £11,000 the following year. Saving taxpayers on average, £905 per annum. George Osborne has also promised to increase the point at which higher earners pay 40% tax. Up to a total of £43,300 in 2017-18.
4. A new Personal Savings Allowance will take 95% of taxpayers out of saver’s tax entirely. A tax free allowance of £1,000 if their annual earning total to £42,700 a year for basic rate taxpayers. Or £500 for higher rate savers, earning between £42,700 and £150,000 will be introduced for the interest earned on savings from 2016.
5. Introducing the Help to Buy ISA – every £200 saved towards first homes will have an extra £50 added to by the government, up to £3,000. Also allowing people to purchase homes with 5% deposit.
6. People will have complete freedom to take money out of an ISA and put it back in later in the year, up to £15,240.
7. £1.25 billion for children’s mental health services.
8. Cancelling the fuel duty planned for this September. Intending to save the average driver £675 a year.
9. A penny off a pint of beer and a 2% cut for wines and spirits.
10. Five million pensioners able to sell off their annuity for a lump sum. Paying the usual tax on income as opposed to the regular 55%.
11. Charities can claim on more Gift Aid on small donations, an extra 25%, increasing from £5,000 to £8,000 a year.
12. Farmers have more time to average profits for income tax. From two to five years, giving them additional security, due to volatile profits, in part to unforeseen circumstances, such as climatological issues.
13. Abolishing annual tax returns. HMRC requiring the information needed, uploaded into new digital tax accounts.
14. Support for all regions of the UK. Rolling out better roads and transport links to northern cities. Bestowing more powers on local areas, more planning powers for London. Ten enterprise zones to encourage growth and jobs.
15. Ensuring banks pay their fair share, increasing the rate of bank levy to raise £900 million a year.
16. Greater support for the oil and gas sector. Introducing a new Investment Allowance, from 30% to 20%, expected to raise oil production by approximately 15% by 2019 and promote £4 billion of new investments.
17. Faster broadband and mobile networks. An investment of £600 million to ensure nearly all UK homes have access to broadband speeds of at least 100 megabits per second.
18. Loans of up to £25,000 for postgraduate research degrees and a review in how to increase funding for postgraduate research.
19. Further investment in science and innovation. Including £140 million on cities and future infrastructure and £40 million into something dubbed ‘The Internet of Things,’ a next step in information, connecting urban transport to medical devices to household appliances. Also bolstering £10 million in promoting new digital currency, such as Bitcoin.
20. Providing tax relief for local newspapers.
*Full details of the Budget can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/budget-2015-some-of-the-things-weve-announced
There are some good aspects to this budget. Some pretty incentives for workers. Everyone likes a bit of extra change in their back pocket, yet what of change? Modernisation is vital, especially for the more isolated areas in the north of England for a south-east and London centric nation that the UK has become. Investment is a noble notion, yet there has to be something to invest in, throwing money at the issue of unemployment won’t make it go away. In terms of the unemployed, nothing is mentioned regarding the unemployed, who are suffering under some of the most Draconian measures introduced since the days of Victorian Workhouses. Raising the minimum wage and increasing the amount if tax free earnings doesn’t help those out of the loop. Also, the idea of injecting more funding for postgraduate study, yet accentuates how the onus is being put on more people to go to university, and is encouraging debt rather dissuading them from it. When the initiatives given to savers and home buyers are taken into account, this Budget is very much a one that appeals to the loyalty of the Tory fold. Avowals of increasing broadband speed are minuscule offerings towards the promotion of an egalitarian society, yet it doesn’t go anywhere near far enough to address the division and injustice smeared across this nation in the form of austerity. Some people have been awarded for being all “In This Together.’ The most are still feeling the lingering winter cold this March.
