What did you think of the budget?

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Clive Ansell — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 10:11:26 GMT

[quote userid="2490" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31072/what-did-you-think-of-the-budget/245854#245854"]Disappointed about the pension incurring inheritance tax [/quote]

I guess that was inevitable at some point.

If I die today the savings I have, which I have already paid the tax on, would be taxed with IHT at 40%, but my pension pot that no tax has yet been paid on (more accurately it has been reclaimed and added to the pension fund) would be free of IHT.

Bit of an anomaly.

I'm also surprised, but pleased, that they haven't stopped being able to draw 25% of pension pot tax free.

RE: What did you think of the budget?

David Mills — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 08:56:51 GMT

Regressive and political.

Maintaining thresholds will drag more people into more tax by the time of he next election, kicking the can down the road.

Increasing employer NI is a backdoor tax on people - wages likely to stagnate or rise slower, so the costs will be passed onto employees (RR has admitted as much today).

Pensions are an interesting one - more tax on these - out of kilter with other savings that can be accessed before retirement - essentially this sums up the left position on personal finances "Do OK, but not too well, if you save too much for your retirement we'll tax you again on that and then we'll tax your remainder more once you're dead" - it's an anti-ambition tax again whose effects won't be felt for decades by most (and doesn't affect the core Labour electorate).

Suspect the farm threshold will be scrapped at some point.

[quote userid="3607" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31072/what-did-you-think-of-the-budget/245860#245860"]We have a civil service that on one hand is never wrong, but on the other is pathologically incompetent when it comes to providing estimates of costs for infrastructure projects; drafting contracts for rail-franchises; paying back Post-Office folk etc, etc e[/quote]

It's called ratcheting. Estimate low, then ensure a lot of money is spent early on in the project (with Crossrail it was £9bn onm surveys and projections) meaning it is very difficult politically to kill an obvious white elephant stone dead - then once committed bring out the real costs which are 5-10x original. Sunak tbf called Crossrail's bluff with the Manchester leg but the whole thing should be damned. Meanwhile Heathrow operates at 98% capacity and growth is stagnant - where is the airport capacity going to come from? What about East-West rail links? Sewerage? Roads?

Thank god we have funding for Great British Energy though!

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Malcolm Ness — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 07:33:44 GMT

Michael is right in highlighting the squeeze on small business and that is the absolutely wrong thing to do if growth is desired. I fear that we will bump along the bottom for a while yet before another tax-raising budget becomes inevitable, presumably when Ms Reeves discovers that the mythical black hole was even deeper than she thought. Denis Healey, a previous Labour chancellor famously advised that if you are in a hole, you should stop digging.

The equation is a simple one, if the electorate want better public services and better national infrasructure (sewers, railways, un-potholed roads) then taxes will have to rise, and rise rather more than has been proposed in the last 24 hrs. An increase in VAT would be lucrative (for the exchequer) and it would inevitably be 'progressive' in that those with deeper pockets would contribute more - 'relatively' more and 'absolutely' more. That is politically unpopular, at least for the time being. The other elephant in the room is that the management and administration of our public services is, generally, piss-poor. We have a civil service that on one hand is never wrong, but on the other is pathologically incompetent when it comes to providing estimates of costs for infrastructure projects; drafting contracts for rail-franchises; paying back Post-Office folk etc, etc etc,. Wes Streeting appears ready to tackle these problems with respect to the NHS but the questions of whether he has the grit, and whether he is allowed to act remain moot.

The budget did nothing to promote growth and that is reflected in the most recent forecasts of the various agencies and organisations that have downgraded the forecasts for GDP growth following the budget. I think that Starmer and Reeves have made a decent fist of it but they are hog-tied by an electorate that naively thinks that the problems are the fault of everyone else (the rich, the feckless, the foreigner,) and can be solved by taxing everybody other than themselves. The politics is volatile - Starmer is leading a government by promulgating a portfolio of policy that makes it probably more right wing than any since Thatcher's and while the chattering classes seem blind to that, our dear leader's plunging popularity rating seems to confirm that indeed, you can't fool all the people all the time.

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Clive Ansell — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 07:13:08 GMT

There was the usual tinkering around the edges as usual too.

In my local last night, the 1p per pint off draught beer is going to make all the difference Landlord not happy though, he says he is already on the edge financially, and the increased cost of employing staff will be a big impact, so he will have to put prices up or close down. Bang goes my 1p off.

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 23:11:04 GMT

It's just more squeeze on small businesses. The NMW is going up quickly and that has to be found somewhere. I will think long and hard about taking on another student nurse apprentice when our next one qualifies. I've always thought it was very 'fair' paying apprentices less before they qualify the same as a degree nurse who come out with £30,000+ debt and the apprentice even gets paid when at college. Making them too expensive will reduce the already limited numbers of places. I need to look and see what affect the national insurance change will have on payroll.

Bloody disaster for farmers, very easy to have a £1,000,000 farm but extremely difficult to make a million to buy one from farming. It's already bad enough these farms getting broken up between multiple children. Idiots.

For most of us - I was fearing worse.

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Francisco Gomez — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 20:22:13 GMT

I tend to get these news from moderate right wing commentators in the radio such as Iain Dale and Nick Ferrari. They don't seem impressed.

I don't feel qualified enough to comment. I hope it helps growth. The commentators seem to think that it will not, because anything hurting employers will eventually trickle down to their employees.

I guess that if the last few years things have gone badly, then a change of direction is needed.

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:37:13 GMT

[quote userid="5012" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31072/what-did-you-think-of-the-budget/245853#245853"]

Bit of a whack for family farmers' and inheritance

[/quote]

That’s an understatement

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:35:43 GMT

Disappointed about the pension incurring inheritance tax , leaving it to my disabled sons. Paying carers so hoping not to come under the employers NI increase. All in all I don’t mind paying more tax as I’ve certainly had help from the taxpayer with SEN schools and they both receive PIP but I hope they do make the increased money make a difference and that it doesn’t just get munched by pay demands for the public sector. I want children to have dental care and people to see a GP when they need to like we used to in the olden days

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Clive Ansell — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 16:18:00 GMT

No real surprises, despite all the recent right wing media doom and gloom BS.

We've only seen the headlines, need to wait for the full report to look at the detail

Bit of a whack for family farmers' and inheritance

[quote userid="4181" url="~/f/non-clinical-questions/31072/what-did-you-think-of-the-budget/245852#245852"]A large hit on employer NI with both the increased % and lowered starting level - how quickly will that find its way into increased prices for clients?[/quote]

Will be a hard hit on smaller businesses, when factoring in the rise in the minimum wage, and giving 18-21 year olds the adult minimum wage too. Although, employment allowance - which allows smaller companies to reduce their NI liability - to increase from £5,000 to £10,500

RE: What did you think of the budget?

Rob Loxley — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 15:05:49 GMT

A large hit on employer NI with both the increased % and lowered starting level - how quickly will that find its way into increased prices for clients?