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Eye-watering for everyone except the bankers. It's a funny old world.

How do you "know" this, Nick?

Budgets are supposed to be highly "secret" until announced in Parliament.

Once upon a time, Chancellors would have resigned if they'd been found to have given a leak about their intentions before informing MPs.

Of course, Ministers no longer resign on the grounds of "morality" or "honesty"... Had that happened over a 13 year period, the lowest back-bencher would have been cycled through the Cabinet...

This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

The VAT rate *should* increase. It's by far the least painful way to raise significant amounts of money. If it means a few of us hold off replacing one piece of useless consumer electronics we don't need with another one by a few months, reducing the amount of land fill and imports we make slightly in the process, is that really such a bad thing?

if it is that bad surely GB+AD+TB+EB+EC and some others should be brought to justice for recking the UK

Nod and a wink eh! Politics v's Journalisim, my first guess would be who's trying to gain what for who or what!

Shame real political reporting by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ hasnt begun yet.

More of the same old lobby fed speculation.

Stick to reporting the facts Mr R, not your supposition!

Powerful reply from Harriet Harman. Open goal, true, but you can't do more than score.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

So some people think that VAT will not affect anything but consumer electronics. Takeaway food, wines and spirits, adult shoes and clothing, cinema and theatre, petrol etc, restaurant food, travel, snacks, sweets, cigarettes, home furnishing, DIY. Come on - I am sure that we can think of more. So lower income tax payers get less than £200 from higher tax allowance, and bye bye, it goes on the higher VAT. But of course, this will not matter to those on higher wages - it is the lower income that loses every time - tampons, nappies, prams - want to be green ? - bikes, make-up, razors, tooth paste........Oh ! and as this will affect inflation then rail fares will go up by the higher inflation rate.

9 sagamix

"Powerful reply from Harriet Harman."

More like fish-wife wailing, actually.

11. At 2:20pm on 22 Jun 2010, sirbarrbarr wrote:
Oh ! and as this will affect inflation then rail fares will go up by the higher inflation rate.
-----------------------------------------------
Agree with your general point but there is a tax cut for everyone who only pays basic rate income tax to compensate. All the pro-Labour commenters have overlooked that. What we do now know is that Labour and Darling may have put up the basic rate of tax. According to GO their plans for cuts and tax rises had not been properly formulated anyway.

Not sure you are correct on rail fares. The fares will be set before the VAT increase applies.

This government is mad! Why does not anyone mention Japan, that has public debt approaching 200% of GDP and borrowing costs around 1%? Does not fit the picture does it?

Eurozone debt crisis is just a result of bad institutional arrangements. Government debt needs to be backed by an central bank - a mere possibility of a bailout is enough to calm the markets. With a proper set of institutional arrangements lending to a government is risk free business, and there is no way bond markets would panic.

This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

10#

Keep taking it down moderator, I'll keep on posting it. One of us has to go home sooner or later.

Saga:

If by powerful you mean deafening and in need of some very serious eq'ing to take out the top screechy notes above 4khz, then yes it was powerful.

Otherwise....

"Eye-watering

That's the best way to sum up the impact of the secrets in the Chancellor's Budget box.

I now understand that VAT will go up and that benefits will be cut. That's in addition to a squeeze on public-sector pay and spending cuts to come."

Blimey, Nick, you need to get out more. You think it was a 'secret' that VAT was going up, benefits were to be cut, public-sector pay was to be frozen and ther were spending cuts on the way?

"9. At 1:43pm on 22 Jun 2010, sagamix wrote:
Powerful reply from Harriet Harman."

Just more ammunition for those seeking to ban the Vuvuzela.

11 - "So lower income tax payers get less than £200 from higher tax allowance, and bye bye, it goes on the higher VAT."

Only if they spend £8,000 on VAT rated goods. Do you know many lower income tazpayers who spend £8,000 a year on VAT rated goods?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

@8 "Stick to reporting the facts Mr R, not your supposition!"

This is a blog. You want facts, check the pages marked "news". Go to a blog site - clearly marked as such - and get background, interpretation, comment and just plain gossip. That's what the site is for.

Whilst the personal allowance has been increased by £1000 there is no mention of age allowance. If this does not increase by a similar amount as the personal allowance then pensioners like me at age 89 will not enjoy the extra £200 a year reduction in tax, particularly as the income limit is to be frozen for two years

9. At 1:43pm on 22 Jun 2010, sagamix wrote:
Powerful reply from Harriet Harman. Open goal, true, but you can't do more than score.

I agree with you, it was inevitable she would score....

IN THE WRONG NET!!

Own goal if ever I saw one

Whilst the personal allowance has been increased by £1000 there is no mention of a similar increase in age allowance. If this is correct it means that pensioners like me at age 89 will not enjoy the £200 a year tax reduction which does not seem fair, particularly as the income limit is to be frozen for two years.

14. At 3:14pm on 22 Jun 2010, zfvr wrote:
This government is mad! Why does not anyone mention Japan, that has public debt approaching 200% of GDP and borrowing costs around 1%? Does not fit the picture does it?

Eurozone debt crisis is just a result of bad institutional arrangements. Government debt needs to be backed by an central bank - a mere possibility of a bailout is enough to calm the markets. With a proper set of institutional arrangements lending to a government is risk free business, and there is no way bond markets would panic.

People who know anything DO mention Japan

It is going to have to deal with it's debt soon, and has been making comments along these lines following the recent election

The interest rates are low due to ongoing deflation, and they are trying to resolve that too

jrp @ 12

"More like fish-wife wailing, actually."

Cheap and sexist comment. Reprehensible. Surprised at you, I really am.

27. At 3:56pm on 22 Jun 2010, sagamix wrote:
jrp @ 12

"More like fish-wife wailing, actually."

Cheap and sexist comment. Reprehensible. Surprised at you, I really am.

POT.....KETTLE.....BLACK

I am surprised at your surprise, I really am

Why all the fuss? Basically a non budget so for most people we suffer:

+ Freeze in child benefit that many do not need
+ VAT up £2.50 for every £100 we spend - next to nothing
+ Booze and fags unaffected
+ Rise in personal allowances of £170/yr enough to cover the VAT increase on £6800 of expenditure.

So unless you are in the over paid under performing public sector not much effect. An opportunity lost.

25. At 3:49pm on 22 Jun 2010, Spud wrote:
Whilst the personal allowance has been increased by £1000 there is no mention of a similar increase in age allowance. If this is correct it means that pensioners like me at age 89 will not enjoy the £200 a year tax reduction which does not seem fair, particularly as the income limit is to be frozen for two years.

You make a good point regarding the Age Allowance, I would be astonished if it didn't rise

I am unsure what you mean by the income limit being frozen for two years?

By saying "pot kettle black" (28), it implies you think I'm in the habit of making sexist jibes. Since you won't be able to point to a single one, I suggest you've reached for the wrong aphorism.

31

Maybe

Yet you are quite happy to make comments based on prejudice, which is the point of my post

Please can you explain why my comment at #3 was blocked.

It clearly did not block house rules.

Is it simply that in the aftermath of the election Nick is overly sensitive to critcism.

28

POT.....KETTLE.....BLACK


Racist!

Criticising Harriet Harman's voice is a bit rich coming from supporters of George Osborne. Labour isn't in power any more and its only offence was try to avoid the greedy voters leaving them for the Conservatives. They did this by adopting Conservative ideas. The overspend was largely due to an underspend by the previous Conservative government and will probably happen again as we've started the current cycle of underspending. I think most of this excessive free market capitalism theory is as discredited as socialism. The only thing keeping this cult alive is the greed it feeds and the false sense of superiority it gives its followers.

35

I think you got a bit carried away there.....

Yes I agree. Most of it is true though. The Conservatives contributed to Labours overspend by underspending during their 18 years. Too much capitalism is as ridiculous as too much socialism was pre 1979. I just wish the Conservatives would stop trying to inflict its free market theories onto things that they aren't suitable for like education and health. Infrastructure type monopoly operations like these aren't suited to the private sector, any attempt to impose them can only be because of a religious zeal for the free market and small government. Railtrack was a good example of this.

I also think that George Osborne's voice is much more annoying than Harriet Harmans. Who only had trouble because she was trying to be heard over the cast of planet of the apes. It does unfortunately mean she wouldn't be suitable as leader though.

Labour isn't in power any more and its only offence was try to avoid the greedy voters leaving them for the Conservatives. They did this by adopting Conservative ideas."

Which kind of makes them "say anything/abandon their principles" types who will say anything to get elected, even stealing the clothes of their political rivals? "Its only offence"??? Ahhh, poor diddums. They knew what they were getting into.

"The overspend was largely due to an underspend by the previous Conservative government and will probably happen again as we've started the current cycle of underspending."

QFS. Had to be the tories fault, didnt it? Labour are utterly incapable of anything approaching within 1000 miles of contrition. We have to underspend, because not only did the monocular megalomaniac spend every single cent we've got plus printing billions more to put us in hock to the chinese and the middle east for the next generation, he also failed to explain to his legions of tribal devoted voters that there is no such thing as a magical money tree. Skint is skint is skint! Underspend? How the H can you "underspend" what you havent got ferchrissakes??

Sorry mate, thats just bodyswerving and fine well you know it.

"I think most of this excessive free market capitalism theory is as discredited as socialism. The only thing keeping this cult alive is the greed it feeds and the false sense of superiority it gives its followers."

Maybe it is. Christ only knows what it is thats keeping the corpse of socialism in a persistent vegatitive state, when the collapse of the Soviet Union proved beyond any doubt that it doesnt bloody work.