It’s the biggest day of the political calendar and it’s only seven days away. We’ve amplified our calls to Fix the Big Six and the broken energy market but what do you want to see from this year’s budget?
The Which? Money team is looking forward to the announcement of this year’s Budget – and not only because of the challenge of keeping our online audience updated.
As consumers, we are also very interested in learning how the Chancellor’s plans will affect our approach to spending, savings and borrowing in 2014.
Now we already know that Britain’s lowest earners will benefit from a rise in the personal allowance for the 2014/15 tax year. And pensioners will also be pleased to hear the Chancellor is set to confirm that the state pension will rise to £113.10 a week.
But the majority of reports regarding Mr Osborne’s speech are purely speculative until Budget Day, where we’ll be rounding up the latest stories in our Budget Hub.
Our asks of this year’s budget
At the Autumn Statement, the Government listened to our calls to ‘Cut Them Down George’ and started to tackle energy bills with an announcement to cut the cost of levies, saving households an average of £50. We believe the next step is to deal with the Carbon Floor Price.
The Carbon Floor Price is a tax that energy generators have to pay on the carbon they emit when they use fossil fuels to generate electricity, which increases the wholesale price of energy. The companies pass on this increase to consumers in their bills. We’re calling on the Chancellor to at least freeze the Carbon Floor Price in his 2014 Budget; and ultimately we would like to see it scrapped.
Your demands of the budget
In previous years you’ve told us you’d like to see commitments on wages, pensions, Isas and personal allowances. A number of shared your worries as you approached retirement age, as Nigel B told us:
‘I will reach State Pension age in March 2017. When the flat rate pension was first announced in January 2013, I thought I had escaped its clutches. Now I am caught. I understand that current entitlement will be preserved, but on the other hand I will now need 35 years NI contributions rather than 30, so the basic element will be cut. I gave up work in 2006 thinking I had the necessary minimum.’
What do you hope to see announced in this year’s Budget and how do you think your personal finances will be affected?
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