George Osborne announced the government’s annual Budget on 19 March 2014. Hailing it as ‘a Budget for the makers, the doers, and the savers’, some of the more headline-grabbing measures Osborne introduced included a rise in the personal allowance to £10,500, a rise in the 40% income tax rate threshold to £41,865, halving bingo duty to 10%, a cut or freeze in duties on alcohol, and a surprise overhaul to pensions and ISAs.
‘Today, we back businesses who invest and export,’ the chancellor said. ‘Manufacturing is growing again, and jobs are being created across the country. So we support manufacturers and back all regions of our country. While as a nation we’re getting on top of our debts, for many decades Britain has borrowed too much and saved too little. So in this Budget we make sure hardworking people keep more of what they earn – and more of what they save.’
However, despite the chancellor’s assertions that Britain’s economy was now growing faster than any other major economy in the world, Labour leader Ed Miliband denounced the Budget as ‘giving with one hand and taking far more with the other’, adding that there had been 24 tax rises since 2010 and that millions of people were worse off under the government. ‘But there is one group who are better off, much better off,’ he said. ‘We all know who they are. The chancellor’s chums. The prime minister’s friends … The beneficiaries of this year’s millionaire’s tax cut.’
Referring to Osborne’s unveiling of the new pound coin, Miliband responded: ‘You can change the shape of the pound. But it doesn’t matter if the pound is square, round or oval. If you’re £1,600 pounds worse off, you’re still £1,600 pounds worse off.’
Press watch: Budget 2014
‘As with most Budgets, this one was full of sound and fury but signified little’, wrote Martin Wolf (Financial Times, 20 March). The chancellor gave a ‘highly political Budget focused on benefiting the prosperous and the elderly’, but the measures are ‘small beer’. More importantly, the Office for Budget Responsibility’s view of the long-term economic prospects remains grim. Let us hope that the OBR will prove too pessimistic.
George Osborne announced the government’s annual Budget on 19 March 2014. Hailing it as ‘a Budget for the makers, the doers, and the savers’, some of the more headline-grabbing measures Osborne introduced included a rise in the personal allowance to £10,500, a rise in the 40% income tax rate threshold to £41,865, halving bingo duty to 10%, a cut or freeze in duties on alcohol, and a surprise overhaul to pensions and ISAs.
‘Today, we back businesses who invest and export,’ the chancellor said. ‘Manufacturing is growing again, and jobs are being created across the country. So we support manufacturers and back all regions of our country. While as a nation we’re getting on top of our debts, for many decades Britain has borrowed too much and saved too little. So in this Budget we make sure hardworking people keep more of what they earn – and more of what they save.’
However, despite the chancellor’s assertions that Britain’s economy was now growing faster than any other major economy in the world, Labour leader Ed Miliband denounced the Budget as ‘giving with one hand and taking far more with the other’, adding that there had been 24 tax rises since 2010 and that millions of people were worse off under the government. ‘But there is one group who are better off, much better off,’ he said. ‘We all know who they are. The chancellor’s chums. The prime minister’s friends … The beneficiaries of this year’s millionaire’s tax cut.’
Referring to Osborne’s unveiling of the new pound coin, Miliband responded: ‘You can change the shape of the pound. But it doesn’t matter if the pound is square, round or oval. If you’re £1,600 pounds worse off, you’re still £1,600 pounds worse off.’
Press watch: Budget 2014
‘As with most Budgets, this one was full of sound and fury but signified little’, wrote Martin Wolf (Financial Times, 20 March). The chancellor gave a ‘highly political Budget focused on benefiting the prosperous and the elderly’, but the measures are ‘small beer’. More importantly, the Office for Budget Responsibility’s view of the long-term economic prospects remains grim. Let us hope that the OBR will prove too pessimistic.
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