One week until the Budget – what do you want to see?

There is always pressure to take more people out of the tax net by raising the personal allowance threshold, and in general this is a good thing. However, because there is a pyramid of earnings it means that giving more relief at the base of the pyramid [which includes every single taxpayer], and recouping the lost revenue from the people higher up the pyramid to achieve fiscal neutrality, always tends to affect those in the middle of the stack disproportionately more than those at the top, largely because the middle belt of the pyramid is quite broad and gives a good yield; the highest earners sometimes seem to be untouchable or have numerous ways of padding their cushion to soften the blow. VAT doesn’t help much either in redistributing “wealth”: It is highly regressive so it bites those with the lowest incomes much more than those with more disposable, and people at the top of the earnings pyramid pay VAT on a relatively small percentage of their overall expenditure because much of it can be put into property or investments or taken abroad. Balancing all these counter-acting movements within the confines of personal taxation while still pulling in enough to fund the public services is an extremely difficult exercise and at the end of the day it comes down to the political philosophy of the party in power. Personally I hope the next budget will carry on remedying some of the structural weaknesses in the UK economy and in the performance of all the public services so that eventually the overall tax take can actually be reduced as a percentage of GDP.

I think small business rates and transportation costs should be slashed. So many businesses struggled go under. If their rates were slashed then the government could still tax their profits which would rise, but if they could offer secure employment to their staff, the staff could risk spending more money, so putting more money back into the economy. Help the people and businesses who keep their money in this country, not those who send it to foreign tax havens
Also high street shops are at an disadvantage trying to trade against internet only traders. The high street traders pay taxes and rates left right and centre, whilst internet traders pay only a pittance in tax. Level the playing field so the high street can keep shops open and help the economy.”
As for transportation costs, if road haulage became cheaper then all goods in shops, could be brought down in price. This would then ease the cost of living.

The Local Government Association has also come up with a novel wheeze which it thinks the Chancellor should pick up in his stride. “Why don’t we cut out the single person council tax discount for well-off people who live in high-band houses on their own?” They say it would release £200m – in their dreams! – which means they could “protect discounts for struggling families and those who need it most”. The notion that the ‘wealthy bachelors’ (as the LGA describes them) will not so adjust their affairs that they escape this clawback is patently unsustainable. Could this be done without another means test and a complex bureaucratic process? Have any checks been made to see what kind of people are in solitary occupation of properties in Band E and above? Or is this just another piece of hare-brained crackpot municipal nonsense?

Doesn’t matter what he does. The rich will still get richer and the poor poorer! Think about it who’s paying for the last big crash not the rich and especially not the Bankers.
Watch out everybody look what happened before the last crash Bankers massive bonuses Housing prices soaring! Have we not learned the lessons, we’re in for another big fall no matter what he does and who will be left picking up the pieces again ?

I want Georgie boy to get the economy working. The truth is we live in a pump up economy; All financial products are designed to convert resources in the material economy into wealth which is pumped up into the financial economy. Sadly the world believes in trickle down and has flooded the financial economy with cash via quantitative easing. Why would anyone in the financial world get out of bed to prime the economic pump when they can wait for cash to be showered on them via quantitative easing? Georgie boy and all other economists need a new paradigm which gets money working. Throwing money at the top has stimulated the financial economy but done little for the material economy where most people live. The best we can say is the debt has now been shared with China and other emerging economies.

Vat registered small businesses compete with those not register for vat businesses and have a major disadvantage. Every other tax has an allowance before it is paid – capital gains, income tax, NI contributions, etc. I would like to see this extended to vat. The current threshold is £79000 per year. Once a business has turnover over this figure it becomes less competitive than other businesses that don’t pay this tax. Hardly an incentive to grow your business!