Nicola Smith
Citizens Advice, which provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to the public via 416 bureaux across England and Wales, is facing an 11% budget cut, as a result of funding reductions across BIS.
-
Nicola Smith
-
Richard Murphy
The unfairness of the budget is shown in microcosm in the proposed changes to corporation tax. Over the next four years the top rate of corporation tax in the country will be reduced from 28% to 24%, only paid for in part by a small reduction in the investment allowances large businesses (in particular) enjoy. Small companies will, at the same time, see a fall in their corporation tax rate from 21% to 20%.
However, all is not as it seems. In the TUC publication The Missing Billions published in 2008 we showed that the effective rate of corporation tax paid by large businesses in the UK was no more than 22%. Subsequent data from HM Revenue & Customs published on their own web site has confirmed this estimate as generous – they show an average rate of 21% and that some large companies pay much less.
-
-
Reuters have published the full text of President Barak Obama’s letter to the G20, where he states that “we must be flexible in adjusting the pace of consolidation and learn from the consequential mistakes of the past when stimulus was too quickly withdrawn and resulted in renewed economic hardships and recession.”
-
Rachel Williams reports in the Guardian that a coaltion of health professionals has written to Michael Gove, objecting to the Department for Education’s free school meals funding cut
-
Oxfam have published a new briefing paper discussing the contribution that people living in poverty make to the UK ‘s economy and society. It also explores the barriers faced by people seeking to move from benefits into work.
-
The FT report on new analysis by NIESR, which suggests that today’s spending cuts will be a significant drag on growth over future years.
-
-
Nigel Stanley
I’ve no idea, but here are some men that do.
This analysis by Howard Reed and Tim Horton on Left Foot Forward nails the progressive claim.
-
Richard Murphy
Hidden in the small print of the Budget press notices is the following announcement:
As part of an approach to develop sustainable responses to avoidance risk, the Government intends to examine whether the option of a General Anti-Avoidance Rule should form one element of strengthened defences. This will be part of wider work on improvements to the tax policy-making process.
There had to be some good news in amongst the gloom today. This is just a small sliver of it. Undoubtedly in the notice to appease the Lib Dem coalition partners such a measure is something the TUC has long argued for – and which is is credited with having promoted in recent years – even inside HM Treasury.
-
Paul Nowak
The budget proved a mixed bag for the English regions. The TUC welcomes the government’s commitment to fund key transport projects in Manchester, the North East and Birmingham as well as the upgrade of the rail link between Liverpool and Leeds. Likewise the announcement of a ‘Regional Growth Fund’ is welcome – though the extent to which this fund will counter-balance the significant reductions in business support seen through the short term cuts to RDA funding and key infrastructure spending in the regions remains to be seen.
-
Richard Exell
One of the quietest announcements in the Budget Reports relates to Disability Living Allowance : “the government will introduce the use of objective medical assessments for all DLA claimants from 2013-14 to ensure payments are only made for as long as claimants need them.”
The Chancellor was rather more open in his speech, where he put this proposal in the context of concerns that “the costs have quadrupled in real terms to over £11 billion, making it one of the largest items of government spending.”
-
Richard Exell
One of the surprises of today’s Budget is the assault on the tax credit system – it’s much more severe than I was expecting.
These changes will exclude hard-pressed middle-income workers, increase the marginal effective tax rates faced by low paid workers, hit families with young children, penalise claimants who are late in reporting changes of circumstances and increase the uncertainty for workers in insecure jobs.
-
Nicola Smith
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s supplementary budget document, and its pre-Budget forecast, show how unemployment has been revised upwards as a result of today’s announcements.
Claimant unemployment will rise 100,000 more than was previously forecast, and the ILO unemployment rate will be 0.2 percentage points higher than the pre-budget forecast predicted.
-
Nigel Stanley
Richard has already blogged about the impact of ditching RPI as the measure for indexing benefits.
It provoked me into building a quick spreadsheet model of the difference it would have made since 2000.
If child benefit had been linked to CPI since 2000 instead of RPI it would now be £18.05p for the first child rather than the current £20.30.