The Chancellor of the Exchequer (No.2 to the Prime Minister and in charge of the nation’s finances), Jeremy Hunt, stood up in Parliament today for the budget. This has been an annual event to set out the next year’s fiscal policy. This is what normally happens. But these are not normal times. Liz Truss announced an emergency budget that sank her political career and forced her out of No.10. Rishi Sunak was waiting in the wings and today he set out his economic vision for Britain.
Today’s Budget could be filed away under doom and gloom. Supposedly Britain has a black hole that needs to be filled. So tax rises are the order of the day. Tens of billions of tax rises were announced along with spending cuts. A freeze on income tax thresholds means millions will now pay more tax as and when their wages increase. These tax rises are on top of rampant inflation that is making basic food items unaffordable.
In 55 days the ruling party has gone from £30 billion of tax cuts under Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget to tax rises and spending cuts of £55bn. What an about turn from the Conservative Party who have always promoted themselves as the party of low taxes. The party that lets you keep more of your money. This hard won reputation has been shattered and a low tax party now presides over the highest tax rate in 75 years.
But what the government takes away through higher taxes it is giving back through cash handouts. Everyone who is on means-tested benefits will get £900. Old age pensioners will get £300 and those on disability benefits will get £150. Its like a Jekyll and Hyde budget. And there is more. With inflation running at 10.1% the government were under pressure to increase benefits and they have given into this with pensions and benefits to all rise by 10.1%. Most working people will not see a rise in their income.
Energy firms are also in the government’s hairs. They will pay an expanded windfall tax of 35%, up from the 25% already levied on their profits. And all those eco loving Greta Thunberg worshippers who have spent eye watering sums of money on their electric cars will no longer be exempt from car tax duty from April 2025.
And on top of all this the cost of owning your own home will rise. The government have given permission for local councils to increase council tax, the tax on owning your home, to go up by 5%. This will add £250 per year to most homes’ tax and is on top of increasing mortgage rates dues to rocketing inflation.
So how do the mainstream media cover this. The BBC has “UK faces biggest fall in living standards on record” as its headline. Its analysis is that unemployment will rise by ½ million and household incomes would fall by 7% over the next few years. Inflation at a 41 year high is a drag on the economy. It blames the rise of energy and food bills on the Russia/Ukraine war and the pandemic.
If I was chancellor my budget would have been quite different. Slash foreign aid budget by 50%. Sue the companies who made a fortune off the scamdemic. Fine every illegal immigrant who breaks into the UK and send them back within days. Open up fracking in the UK to fix our energy crisis. Streamline the NHS/Health service. Remove green levies on our energy. End our contribution to the WTO, WHO and the UN. Reduce aid to Ukraine to zero. Ban Chinese students from UK universities. Sue every organisation that pushes gender reassignment on children. That would be a start. What do you think?
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