Your views on the Budget

Harry B

Darling hasn't done a lot really. £2k "showroom" tax on least efficient cars, charging for plastic bags, etc, etc. It might be targeted at environmental issues but in my opinion it's just populist stuff to please Daily Mail readers :?

Oh and 4p on a pint :shock:

richardast

Harry B wrote:

...it's just populist stuff to please Daily Mail readers

They would only have been pleased if he'd introduced a new Immigrant Tax or burst into tears and asked Mr Cameron to take over on his white horse.

Didn't think there was anything particularly controversial or surprising.
Good news for pensioners with regard to help with heating bills.

In spite of Mr Cameron's jibe, I thought his delivery was a breath of fresh air after listening to GB's monotone for the last few years.

schlepcycling

The NI earnings threshold on which you pay 11% instead of 1% has gone up by £100 to £770, so as far as I can tell if you earn more than £770 a week your NI bill has just gone up £10 per week (an extra 10% on £100).

wildmoustache

he has no room for manouvre because gordon blew all the cash.

he has raised some cash through alcohol (scottish whiskey outcry tonight) , removing biofuel subsidy (green?), and whacking gas guzzling cars. but not big bucks.

it's a mouse of budget from a mousey government.

they're essentially finished, though I'm not that keen on the likely alternative.

bagpusscp

I did not vote this bunch of muppets in :evil: . So if you did you are also to blame. :x
Govermemt borrowing is out of control .IF the BANKING sector goes totally tits up and it is on the edge.We will really be in the $h£t house . Cheers Tony Gordan and all . You cannot borrow more than you earn and as a country thats just what we are doing :!: :?: :idea: It is all a lesson in history.

azzerb

Don't get me started on Labour.. Or our voting system.

Conservatives has 99k more votes in England :shock: . Stupid system. Ah well. Maybe things will work out next time.

gkerr4

schlepcycling wrote:

The NI earnings threshold on which you pay 11% instead of 1% has gone up by £100 to £770, so as far as I can tell if you earn more than £770 a week your NI bill has just gone up £10 per week (an extra 10% on £100).

at the same time if you are in that earning bracket he gave you (some of) it back through the change to the income tax which was announced some time ago - abolish the 10% low band and mid band becomes 20% from 22% - which gives you about £35 a month back for the same pay scales (still a net £5 / month worse off though)

blackhands

Well I've got another £50 on my winter fuel allowance.

vermooten

azzerb wrote:

Don't get me started on Labour.. Or our voting system.

Conservatives has 99k more votes in England :shock: . Stupid system. Ah well. Maybe things will work out next time.

Conservatives didn't get in therefore the system works!

Lagavulin

55p on my beloved malt... Darling you b@$t@rd!

(why do I feel like Stephen Fry in Blackadder goes Forth)

richardast

Lagavulin wrote:

55p on my beloved malt... Darling you b@$t@rd!

(why do I feel like Stephen Fry in Blackadder goes Forth)

You're only my second favourite.
Perhaps I should change my name to Laphroaig.
We've had it good for the last 10 years, I suppose.

schlepcycling

gkerr4 wrote:

schlepcycling wrote:

The NI earnings threshold on which you pay 11% instead of 1% has gone up by £100 to £770, so as far as I can tell if you earn more than £770 a week your NI bill has just gone up £10 per week (an extra 10% on £100).

at the same time if you are in that earning bracket he gave you (some of) it back through the change to the income tax which was announced some time ago - abolish the 10% low band and mid band becomes 20% from 22% - which gives you about £35 a month back for the same pay scales (still a net £5 / month worse off though)

Good point , I just did a quick calc on the BBC News website and it seems that'll I'll be a bit better off because of just that my tax reduction outweighs my increase in NI......but I'll just p*ss it away on beer...

wildmoustache

do we have on this forum the one person in the UK who considers Darling a breath of fresh air rather than a breath of a rather more stale "air"?

APIII

I think the more the car owner pays in the form of 'fixed' tax, i.e. vehicle licensing, etc, the more they feel they have earned the right to be on the road at the expense of all others. I'll be even more wary of 4x4 drivers from now on. (If that's at all possible)

millar time

I nearly died of boredom, where have all the natural orators gone?

My main cause for concern is that government borrowing is up, again. So its not only a good portion of the population that live on credit, its the government too. I think Darling and whoever is actually pulling the strings at the Treasury are keeping their powder dry for sometime after the next budget so they can use it to guide an election campaign.

TheBoyBilly

I'm no fan of Gordon Brown but he did a pretty good job as Chancellor, so it will be interesting to see if the forecasts in the economy bear out despite the doubts in the City. I think Northern Rock will come back to haunt Labour though.
Of the speeches yesterday in the House, the one that made me laugh was that of Mr. Clegg. It was almost totally "lifted" from Richard Littlejohn's column on Tuesday (I am a Mail reader, so there).
You should read it, it might give you an insight into the REAL world. (Unless, of course, you work for local government....nice pension I'm paying for)

meagain

I merely wonder why everyone expects less tax on x, more of y. X and Y being of course their priorities. And unfortunately everyone has different priorities. For example, I "want" better public transport. I don't "want" to spend on Trident. Thus it is all a balancing exercise. Constrained by the so-called democracy in which we (presumably) prefer to live ("we" have never raised a serious challenge).

What it certainly was not was a "wartime" budget - and yet we (as the UK) are clearly at war in Iraq and Iran. Those loudest to complain about lack of resources available to "our boys" are simultaneously those who shout loudest in favour of lower taxation. I just love the logic!

And those who were (and even are) the keenest on the benefits of the global economy are the first to whine when the Rocks come home to roost.

The sooner we scrap the nonsense that all over 18 are intelligent enough to vote, the better.

bagpusscp

Trouble is NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE are bothering to VOTE :idea: :arrow: Poll time :?:

meagain

But....would not most of those who normally don't vote also be in favour of less tax AND more spend (on their own priorities respectively obviously!)? And thus split pretty much the same way as those who currently do vote?

I well remember the incredulity of friends in the '70s and '80s when they realised that me and the missus voted for a party that would RAISE our personal tax quite heavily!

I don't think a bigger turnout would make a lot of difference really.

Gavin Gilbert

meagain wrote:

What it certainly was not was a "wartime" budget - and yet we (as the UK) are clearly at war in Iraq and Iran. Those loudest to complain about lack of resources available to "our boys" are simultaneously those who shout loudest in favour of lower taxation. I just love the logic!

Bloody hell, they kept that quiet!

wildmoustache

meagain wrote:

I merely wonder why everyone expects less tax on x, more of y. X and Y being of course their priorities. And unfortunately everyone has different priorities. For example, I "want" better public transport. I don't "want" to spend on Trident. Thus it is all a balancing exercise. Constrained by the so-called democracy in which we (presumably) prefer to live ("we" have never raised a serious challenge).

What it certainly was not was a "wartime" budget - and yet we (as the UK) are clearly at war in Iraq and Iran. Those loudest to complain about lack of resources available to "our boys" are simultaneously those who shout loudest in favour of lower taxation. I just love the logic!

And those who were (and even are) the keenest on the benefits of the global economy are the first to whine when the Rocks come home to roost.

The sooner we scrap the nonsense that all over 18 are intelligent enough to vote, the better.

Globalisation is not responsible for Northern Rock. Not in any sense responsible.

Lots of us opposed the war.

meagain

"Bloody hell, they kept that quiet!"

Presience, foresight, old chap! Oh alright, slip of the geography! Though after this week's elections in Persia the odds on another front opening up are significantly increased, I think.

Gavin Gilbert

meagain wrote:

"Bloody hell, they kept that quiet!"

Presience, foresight, old chap! Oh alright, slip of the geography! Though after this week's elections in Persia the odds on another front opening up are significantly increased, I think.

Nah! By the time the troop build-up would be complete the US elections would have happened and whatever the outcome, there will be a human being in the Whitehouse.

A quick air strike on Iran before that maybe, but not a ground war.

flattythehurdler

IMO, any country that does what they did to those poor children they publicly hanged for homosexuality deserves a GWB doing his worst. F@cking barbarians.

andy81

TheBoyBilly wrote:

I'm no fan of Gordon Brown but he did a pretty good job as Chancellor, so it will be interesting to see if the forecasts in the economy bear out despite the doubts in the City.

Unfortunately, much of what Brown did as Chancellor slipped under the radar. He made a mess of pensions, and introcuced loads of stealth tax (he was intelligent enough to realise that most of his core voters wouldn't realise what was going on).

He was lucky that the whole world experienced economic prosperity during his time as chancellor - we'll probably see just how much of a mess he made now things are going pear shaped.

Unfortunately, the budget form Darling looked much the same as we're used to - minor rises in environmental taxes which fuel the idea that it's to raise cash rather than get to the root of the problem, otherwise petrol tax would be doubled for instance. Don't even get me started on the new non-domiciled individuals rules.