I have yet to write a post on the budget, however, for now I shall leave you with this.Quite a few young people dislike the outcome of the budget and have set up a group on facebook against it.
If you have an account on facebook, then click here.
Friday 23 March 2007
The Budget Protest...
I have yet to write a post on the budget, however, for now I shall leave you with this.Quite a few young people dislike the outcome of the budget and have set up a group on facebook against it.
If you have an account on facebook, then click here.
Thursday 22 March 2007
Guido - The Bogeyman
Blinding Tax Cuts!
Today's cartoon in the Times - nice to see that some of their employees have sense. Do Kalesky's comments signal that Murdoch and New International are sidling up to Brown and lookign to maintain their links with Labour?2007 vs 2008
Today KPMG released calculations of how much better off/worse off people will be based on yesterdays announcements.
I refered to this briefly in my earlier article now here is a graph of the table.
Day Two - Analysis - Anatole Kaletsky
Welcome to the first substantive post of Day Two, sorry it's a bit late.
Today I'm focusing on the Analysis provided by the Times.
On the front page of today's budget supplement which you can read here Kaletsky makes a number of points which I wish to comment on.
Kaletsky acknowledges Brown's hallmark for trickery or "conjuring" as Kaletsky puts it and yesterday was no difference what with some purported green taxes, a cut in income tax that will leave the poorest worse off and tinkering with VAT - all with the net result of nothing much happening to revenue levels.
Kaletsky claims there is nothing wrong with this spin. It is, he says "what tax simplification is all about". "Anyone who calls for a simpler tax code ... is calling for exactly what Mr Brown did yesterday. I couldn't disagree more. A simpler tax code! His own colleagues at the Times contradict him. During their live feed yesterday they said "There is a good deal of tinkering with VAT here, great news for tax lawyers but a nuisance for everyone else".
Brown claimed that the 10p tax band was being taken away in the name of simplicity. But unless one is dead set on simplifying the tax code - for example by flattening taxes surely one should focus on fairness (more on the impact of this to come soon).
Kaletsky says how Brown "delights" in describing all sorts of trivial changes - it is these trivial changes that have given us the second largest tax law in the world at some 20,000 pages length.
Later he offers his views on how if Mr Brown had explained that the low paid wouldn't be worse off because of his budget because of his increased Tax Credits system he would have had a much better image. Yet Kaletsky seems oblivious of the article on page 3 of the Budget supplement that destroys any hint of credibility in this argument. He refers to a small but significant redistribution from upper middle classes to those in most in need - so how come KPMG report in the Times that a person earning £7,000 will be approx £180 worse off and someone on £9,000 will be approx £190 worse off!
Kaletsky criticises Brown's style for failing to explain the "merits" of his tinkering. I disagree. Style and how you sell things to people is sadly all too important in politics. What Brown needs however isn't Style in his Budget but substance - each year his reference to government borrowing grows ever shorter and yesterday his was only minutes off of the shortest budget in History.
Kaletsky's article is highly biased and flawed I believe. Naturally I have only focused on a few points of his article however I believe these are critically important. What Brown needs isn't style to defeat his critics but substance to defeat them. He must show us that Lord Turnbull was wrong and that he will be less dictatorial than Blair and Thatcher.
Today I'm focusing on the Analysis provided by the Times.
On the front page of today's budget supplement which you can read here Kaletsky makes a number of points which I wish to comment on.
Kaletsky acknowledges Brown's hallmark for trickery or "conjuring" as Kaletsky puts it and yesterday was no difference what with some purported green taxes, a cut in income tax that will leave the poorest worse off and tinkering with VAT - all with the net result of nothing much happening to revenue levels.
Kaletsky claims there is nothing wrong with this spin. It is, he says "what tax simplification is all about". "Anyone who calls for a simpler tax code ... is calling for exactly what Mr Brown did yesterday. I couldn't disagree more. A simpler tax code! His own colleagues at the Times contradict him. During their live feed yesterday they said "There is a good deal of tinkering with VAT here, great news for tax lawyers but a nuisance for everyone else".
Brown claimed that the 10p tax band was being taken away in the name of simplicity. But unless one is dead set on simplifying the tax code - for example by flattening taxes surely one should focus on fairness (more on the impact of this to come soon).
Kaletsky says how Brown "delights" in describing all sorts of trivial changes - it is these trivial changes that have given us the second largest tax law in the world at some 20,000 pages length.
Later he offers his views on how if Mr Brown had explained that the low paid wouldn't be worse off because of his budget because of his increased Tax Credits system he would have had a much better image. Yet Kaletsky seems oblivious of the article on page 3 of the Budget supplement that destroys any hint of credibility in this argument. He refers to a small but significant redistribution from upper middle classes to those in most in need - so how come KPMG report in the Times that a person earning £7,000 will be approx £180 worse off and someone on £9,000 will be approx £190 worse off!
Kaletsky criticises Brown's style for failing to explain the "merits" of his tinkering. I disagree. Style and how you sell things to people is sadly all too important in politics. What Brown needs however isn't Style in his Budget but substance - each year his reference to government borrowing grows ever shorter and yesterday his was only minutes off of the shortest budget in History.
Kaletsky's article is highly biased and flawed I believe. Naturally I have only focused on a few points of his article however I believe these are critically important. What Brown needs isn't style to defeat his critics but substance to defeat them. He must show us that Lord Turnbull was wrong and that he will be less dictatorial than Blair and Thatcher.
The Message Meter - Times Online
Have your say on Brown and Cameron's performance with the Time's Message Meter from Populus here. Watch the clips and rate each of their performance and have your say in the polls.
Top five ways to beat the Budget
Check out MSN Car's guide to beating the Budget's effect on motoring here. Whilst you're there why not take a look at the Trident Iceni - a 230mph green supercar!
Well it'd day two of our Budget Blog so stay tuned throughout the day as we pick through the finer details of yetserday's announcement and the best of the analysis from the papers and elsewhere.
Wednesday 21 March 2007
"A Tax Con not a Tax Cut" - The Party's Responce
David Cameron has responded to Brown's 11th Budget by dubbing it a "Tax con, not a tax cut". As most are aware the devil is in the detail (the pages and pages of it - 326 to be precise and thats only the overview not the detailed law).
Whilst's Brown's announcement that he was going to cut the basic rate of tax from 22 to 20p in the pound his announcement hidden deep within the speech that his budget would be revenue neutral wasn't surprising. Whilst the Chancellor managed to annouce this through gritted teeth Comrade Balls dodged the question in his Radio 4 interview. What they aren't to keen for everyone to know that far from this move being revenue neutral it will be revenue positive. The 10p tax band, introduced to help the poorest in society, will be scrapped in the name of "simplicity" and National Insurance will be increased.
The Party's stunt earlier on this morning is already old news. 99 Stealth Tax rises? More like at least 101. Watch the video of todays protest below and check out the full post over on the Regalis.
Furthermore, taxes on business will rise overall by £1 billion in 2008-2009, plus a further £1.8 billion increase in the following financial year. To this Mr Cameron said "You have finally given us a tax cut. You normally do that before a general election, but you are in such a deep hole you have had to do it before the leadership election." I agree completley with this - it's an old trick to cut taxes before an election and reap the short term rewards, however, thsi is rather less common, have the opinion polls finally had an impact on our Man of Steel?
Mr Brown can not run away from his record Cameron said. "You are the Chancellor who has put the tax burden up; the Chancellor who has taken one tax down but put 99 taxes up." He added: "Your great experiment in tax and spending has failed. You are an out of date politician wedded to state control."
He went on: "Let me tell you what the Chancellor's real problem is: it is not that he is a Stalinist who holds all his colleagues in contempt - although I have to say that probably doesn't help. It is that he has wasted money on an industrial scale." It is estimated that the He went on: "Let me tell you what the Chancellor's real problem is: it is not that he is a Stalinist who holds all his colleagues in contempt - although I have to say that probably doesn't help. It is estimated that the average family is now paying £1,300 more in tax than before Brown.
Mr Brown can not run away from his record Cameron said. "You are the Chancellor who has put the tax burden up; the Chancellor who has taken one tax down but put 99 taxes up." He added: "Your great experiment in tax and spending has failed. You are an out of date politician wedded to state control."
He went on: "Let me tell you what the Chancellor's real problem is: it is not that he is a Stalinist who holds all his colleagues in contempt - although I have to say that probably doesn't help. It is that he has wasted money on an industrial scale." It is estimated that the He went on: "Let me tell you what the Chancellor's real problem is: it is not that he is a Stalinist who holds all his colleagues in contempt - although I have to say that probably doesn't help. It is estimated that the average family is now paying £1,300 more in tax than before Brown.
This Chancellor's real record is Britain's biggest tax burden in history, a savings ratio half that of ten years ago, business investment as a share of GDP is under 10 per cent and going backwards, Britain's trade deficit is widening, and research and development spending, crucial to providing room for further economic growth, is falling.
What is more by 2011 state borrowing will be, at latest estimates, running at £153 billion, some £8 billion more than the amount Mr Brown said it would be only three months ago! "He has built up a pile of debt - and we are entitled to ask where has all the money gone," Cameron said.
So some on Gordon where is it? Millions in the NHS? So why are nurses loosing their jobs? Why are Doctors having to campaign for their livelihood? New Hospitals eh? Well I wonder who's paying for that? - not the taxpayer - well at least not yet - we will be when the PFI bills start kicking in however
What is more by 2011 state borrowing will be, at latest estimates, running at £153 billion, some £8 billion more than the amount Mr Brown said it would be only three months ago! "He has built up a pile of debt - and we are entitled to ask where has all the money gone," Cameron said.
So some on Gordon where is it? Millions in the NHS? So why are nurses loosing their jobs? Why are Doctors having to campaign for their livelihood? New Hospitals eh? Well I wonder who's paying for that? - not the taxpayer - well at least not yet - we will be when the PFI bills start kicking in however
Budget 2007 - Key Points
Here are what i consider to by the key headline points of today's budget. Further anaylsis to follow.
The Economy:
- UK economy growing faster than other G7 countries
- UK growth forecast at 2.5-3 per cent in 2008/9
- Inflation will fall this year to 2 per cent (from 2.8 per cent)
- For 2008/2009 inflation forecast on target
- UK has closed productivity gap with Japan and Germany, narrowed it with America and halved it with France
- UK has met "Golden Rule", with spending surplus of £11bn over economic cycle
- Debt from 2007-08 to 2012 forecast at 38.2, 38.5, 38.8, 38.8 and 38.6 per cent - meeting second fiscal rule
- Government borrowing to be £35bn this year - £24bn by 2012
- Budget to be broadly neutral in fiscal terms
Tax:
- Basic rate of income tax cut to 20p from 22p from April 2008
- Lower starter rate of 10p to go
- Top-rate income tax threshold to raise to £43,000, from £38,000
Main corporation tax cut to 28p from 30p - Tax rate on small companies to be raised from 20p this year to 22p in 2009.
- Pensioners tax-free allowance up to £9,770
- Inheritance tax will threshold to rise from £285,000 now to £350,000 in 2010.
Duty:
- Beer up 1p a pint, wine up 5p a bottle, duty on spirits frozen
- Cigarettes up 11p for a packet of 20
The Environment:
- Fuel duty up 2p a litre - rise delayed 6 months, until October
- Top-rate road tax up, eventually, to £400
- For most fuel-efficient cars, road duty cut to £35, from £50
- Up to £4,000 for home insulation for pensioners
- VAT reduced to 5 per cent for energy saving
- Landfill tax to rise by £8 a year
- No VAT rise on air travel
- Until 2012 all new zero carbon homes up to £500,000 will be exempt from stamp duty.
New Income:
- Asset sales to double to £36bn
- £6bn sale of student loan book
- Below inflation spending settlements for some departments: Work and Pensions; Revenue and Customs; Cabinet Office; Treasury; Department for Constitutional Affairs; Attorney General's Office.
- Efficiency savings of 3% each year to mean the government can release £26bn a year by 2010/11 for frontline services.
New Expenditure:
- Counter-terrorism services to get extra £86m
- Armed forces to get extra £400m this year
- NHS to get extra £8bn
- Education "to become a right" for everyone up to age 18
- All 125,000 people who lost their pensions because of company insolvency will get help with a financial assistance scheme increased from £2bn to £8bn.
- Cash Isa limit up to £3,600
Before starting on the serious stuff i saw this on the Telegraph site. If you've got any more funny cartoons email me them and i'll post them as a light hearted side to this special edition
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