The Budget

[Colin Todd]

Surprised the isnt a thread on it already

What did everyone think?

Personally I thought it was going to be worse with a load of green taxes on everyday activites that people and business couldnt afford to pay right now.

If Labour pull it off then they may regain some credibility. Trouble is, the whole budget seems to be based around there being economic growth at the end of the year which is based on....... nothing other than guesswork and hope it would seem. The IMF dont agree, and they seem to have been more right throughout the reccession unfolding.

[yeo]

It makes me laugh,ive heard people on the radio talking like its the end of the world.A tax hike on the 1% mega rich paying 50% tax above 150k is very Old Labour and a a great move.

[Phil_S]

They've messed up the economy big time. Taxes will have to go up & cuts will have to be made. But they are postponing the pain until after the election, hoping that they will either get back in, or the Tories can be blamed when the taxes go up, cuts come in.
I read this on one site, & IMHO is about right:

Debt explosion - even on Darling's figures, debt on the Maastricht definition is forecast to be 90.7% of GDP by 2013-14 (against a Maastricht limit of 60%) - and ludicrously, that excludes anything for the cost of bank bailouts
Wildly optimimistic growth assumptions - no mainstream forecaster is anywhere near Darling's assumption of 1.25% growth next year and 3.25%pa thereafter. Tyler's fag packet says that taking the IMF's latest growth forecasts instead would add about £30bn pa to Darling's borrowing forecast by 2013-14
Wildly optimistic bank bailout assumptions - Darling's borrowing forecasts exclude any losses, even though he reckons the cost will be 3.5% of GDP; worse, the real cost will be more like 13% of GDP (£200bn), as forecast by the IMF yesterday
Wildly optimistic public spending assumptions - Darling factors in £15bn pa of spending cuts, but they're in the form of Gershon "efficiency savings", the ultimate Marx Bros funny money.
There are two possible explanations for such a load of wishful thinking. Either he actually believes it - quite possible given the record - or, more likely, they realise they're stuffed, and want to leave as big a mess for the Tories as they possibly can (like, how will Dave and George defuse that ticking 50% tax rate, given that there's no money?)

http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/

[LucienSanchez]

Bit disappointed with fuel tax increasing again, seeing as it is already ridiculously high, but none of it surprised me really

[leefer]

Think Labour will be gone next election Toddy..its nothing to do with money troubles,all countrys are in the mire...its how they handle themselfs publically...a budget in a recesion should be seen to helping out the working person...cant see anything in it that helps me or any other working person....in fact its contary taking from us all again...of course The tories etc arnyt any better and thats why i dont vote,and before anyone says i shouldnt whinge because i dont vote i understand that view....i am but a lemming,if the government says ive got to jump ...well i have to jump!

[Batch]

Agree with phil_s, this is a nothing budget,  a holding pattern until economic recovery comes when everyone will be hit and spending slashed.

50% tax on the rich, in the grand scheme of things a pointless gimmick.

£2k car scrap scheme. Can't see it working that well.  Can't see many people with 10 year old cars having the cash for a brand spanker. Given the 'industry' has to pay for half the 2k then surely cars will be going up by 1k and/or discounts reduced to offset.

Everything else as expected, but as I say, the calm before the storm.

[Phil_S]

Agree with phil_s, this is a nothing budget,  a holding pattern until economic recovery comes when everyone will be hit and spending slashed.

50% tax on the rich, in the grand scheme of things a pointless gimmick.

£2k car scrap scheme. Can't see it working that well.  Can't see many people with 10 year old cars having the cash for a brand spanker. Given the 'industry' has to pay for half the 2k then surely cars will be going up by 1k and/or discounts reduced to offset.

Everything else as expected, but as I say, the calm before the storm.

On the subject of the scrappage scheme, most who would buy new don't have a ten year old car to scrap. People who buy new tend to change the car on a regular basis....... not after ten years. It may just work with the lower value cars that retail for say £6k & most of those are made abroad.
The other issue is the manufacturers have to pay half. I can't see them being able to cut prices by a further £1k, they probably have cut as much as possible any way to cut their stocks. I await Honda's verdict. What they say is more likely to make sense than Darlings speil

[suttonred]

This may be a simplistic view as i'm not a financial or political person, but all i seem to hear or see is that everything is based on consumer purchases growing, which will balance out all of the borrowing. But how many DVD players or ipods etc can people have? I would imagine most people have got all they will ever need, and unless something breaks or wears out, spending will never get back to what it was, and therfore their resoning is flawed badly.

[yeo]

£2k car scrap scheme. Can't see it working that well.  Can't see many people with 10 year old cars having the cash for a brand spanker. Given the 'industry' has to pay for half the 2k then surely cars will be going up by 1k and/or discounts reduced to offset.

Couldnt they just pick up an old banger for 100 quids?

[axs]

This may be a simplistic view as i'm not a financial or political person, but all i seem to hear or see is that everything is based on consumer purchases growing, which will balance out all of the borrowing. But how many DVD players or ipods etc can people have? I would imagine most people have got all they will ever need, and unless something breaks or wears out, spending will never get back to what it was, and therfore their resoning is flawed badly.

That doesn't make any sense to me, people will spend what they have spare (and more in some cases), there are always new things to spend on.

[axs]

Couldnt they just pick up an old banger for 100 quids?

It's only redeemable against a new car.

[Cookie]

This may be a simplistic view as i'm not a financial or political person, but all i seem to hear or see is that everything is based on consumer purchases growing, which will balance out all of the borrowing. But how many DVD players or ipods etc can people have? I would imagine most people have got all they will ever need, and unless something breaks or wears out, spending will never get back to what it was, and therfore their resoning is flawed badly.

That's the whole point of capitalism isn't it? making people spend money on things they don't really need (or want in some cases).

[yeo]

It's only redeemable against a new car.

yes i ment buy an old banger to redeem against the 2k off a new car

[axs]

yes i ment buy an old banger to redeem against the 2k off a new car

You have to have owned it for 12 months.

[Dazzza]

No real surprises although the meanderings from the City folk that other countries may not see Britain being good for the Government’s massive debt’s is a bit of a concern.

The 150k - 50% rate is great news for us offshore jurisdictions off the back of a difficult few months.  These are the just the folks that are being targeted and the Government’s increase only helps drive them over even quicker.