The Budget

I tend to ignore all the political theatre and wait until the 'experts' have analysed it later and then I home in to all the details that affect me personally.

And still the idea that keeping Corporation Tax down. So many prove talk up what Australia does and theirs is 30%!

New Free ports - or should that be Fraud Ports?

I remember, nostalgically, when we watched for how much beer, fags and petrol were going up!

As one of more than three million #ExcludedUK, I'm seriously starting to question what's the point any more? A whole year without any work, and yet no government support whatsoever. Paid my taxes all these years - and for what? Thanks for nothing, Rishi Sunak!

All I know is that an increase to £100 contacless it great for me.
I think contactless has become far more popular during the pandemic and the fears about it have proved to be unfounded. Good move.

Ellianne

All I know is that an increase to £100 contacless it great for me.
I think contactless has become far more popular during the pandemic and the fears about it have proved to be unfounded. Good move.

Excellent to know that some people have no problem with a person who steals their card making several purchases with it at £100 a go...

Why don't the Conservatives like the self-employed?

PippaZ

Why don't the Conservatives like the self-employed?

They must like some of them with grants paid to keep them going

Another 1.5 million could have been taken into the scheme quite easily apparently, Germany has done far more for the small businesses - often self employed and it's is these small businesses that are likely to pull us out of the issues around the pandemic. I don't call going without any income for a year being shown the government backs you.

Extention of 5% mortgagest on houses up to £600,000 isn't it? No building of low rent property. I think we know who the Conservatives support.

rosie1959

PippaZ

Why don't the Conservatives like the self-employed?

They must like some of them with grants paid to keep them going

And yet there are more than three million of us who have paid our taxes for all these years and yet haven't received a penny in support from the government. How is that fair?

rosie1959

PippaZ

Why don't the Conservatives like the self-employed?

They must like some of them with grants paid to keep them going

And yet there are more than three million of us - all tax payers - who haven't received a penny in support from the government. How is that fair?

Those were the days JaxJacky. This lot today didn't mean a thing to me. I'm no wiser.

What an odd comment MaizieD? I think most people will be glad this has happened (nothing at all to do with their political persuasion). If you’re worried about your card being stolen, you could use contactless via your mobile.

Blondiescot

rosie1959

PippaZ

Why don't the Conservatives like the self-employed?

They must like some of them with grants paid to keep them going

And yet there are more than three million of us - all tax payers - who haven't received a penny in support from the government. How is that fair?

If you are self employed and have been paying taxes for years surely you could claim as you would have the accounts to back this up ?

Although Sunak is not doing anything at the moment he is signaling future austerity measures by his references to the deficit being the highest in peacetime. No doubt we will start to get references to good housekeeping and not wanting our grandchildren to be paying it off. And, without a doubt, many people will accept this reasoning.

The fact is that deficits have gone up and down since the first loans, raised by William 111, which were used to fight the European wars, under the leadership of the Duke of Marlborough. That was at the beginning of the 18th Century. At the beginning of the 19th Century, debt rose again in order to fight the Napoleonic Wars. It was of course, the period in which the British Empire grew to its largest size and it was also a period during which the middle class expanded.

For three centuries, the national debt has risen and fallen. Most of us on here have lived though the aftermath of WW2 when the debt was high and being paid off. Did we notice it? Did it affect our lives? For most of us we are the fortunate generation, in many ways. I know that there are many older people who are existing on the state pension with what ever top up benefits are available to them, but most of us aren't.

The period of austerity, introduced by the Tories in 2010, has caused untold damage to thousands of people. The then govt were very pleased that between 2010 and 2013 they had reduced public spending by £14.3 billion. This had the affect of slowing the rate of growth and increasing unemployment levels.

Let us hope that the govt will support innovation and growth over the next few years, rather than relying solely of the private sector.

Rosie1959 Those self employed people who haven't received financial support in the form of grants have not been entitled to received them. The grants have been given to those people who were self employed between 2016/17 and 2018/19. The grants are based upon the income as declared in their tax returns.

There are several people who eke out their state pension by being self employed - gardening, etc etc etc. If their profits were 50% or less of their total income they don't qualify for that financial support. For example, someone receiving a state pension of say £9000 earns say £5000 doing odd jobs, or gardening they would have received nothing.

Anybody who became self employed during 2019/20 received nothing but they could have been included in later handouts because the 2020 tax returns would have been filed with HMRC at the latest by 31 January this year. In deed, many of them will have filed their tax returns in April or May and probably more would have done so if there was a chance that they would get some financial support.

Finally, the SEISS grants are taxable income.

Ah I am with you now Dinahmo my son went self employed Jan 2020 so he received nothing but fortunately he has gone from strength to strength and has impressed me
Those doing odd jobs or gardening I presume could still earn a living as we have had many tradesmen in doing work whilst we were unable to go anywhere
We have our own Limited Company which operates from an office attached to our house so like the many PAYE directors have received nothing except furlough for our staff when needed which was very helpful

The numbers are up in the stratosphere I don’t understand any of them. I’ll wait for the newspapers to explain it to me tomorrow!

Let us hope that the govt will support innovation and growth over the next few years, rather than relying solely of the private sector.

What a hopeless optimist you are, Dinahmo . You said yourself at the start that he was signalling austerity with all the talk of high deficit.

Did you notice nothing at all for the public sector? That's how it starts. All those key workers who've been slogging their guts out for the past year, ameliorating the government's huge mistakes over covid19? Zilch for them...

Plenty more corruption on the way with those Freeports. Smuggling, tax avoidance, no need to implement workers' rights... Lovely...

You are absolutely correct to point out that deficits aren't damaging.

But what is more pertinent is that the so called 'deficit' is nowhere near as big as is made out, as all the QE that has been created is newly created money which is owed to no-one.

And the rest? Well, some of it is 'owed' to foreign holders of UK bonds and gilts, but most of the rest of it is actually people's savings and investments or institutional investments (such as for pension funds). This is not a Bad Thing. We have a safe, unexciting, but safe, place for our savings and the government has use of our money until the bond repayment is due, or we withdraw it. You know when you invest in shares and you are solemnly warned that share prices can fall as well as rise? Well, apart from Premium bonds, which erode in value through inflation, your government investments can't fall in value. Nice and safe; government can't go bust.

So why worry about the deficit?

What is more, because government is able to create as much money as it likes, it can afford to pay for anything it wants to pay for. This not only can maintain effective public services but also maintain growth through the use of private enterprise to supply resources to the public sector and the spending of public service employees' wages in the the private sector.

The government could, if it cared, equally put money into vital Early Years and childhood services and into social care for the elderly, and invest in the NHS, and invest in Green projects with no detriment to the national economy.

But it won't, because it doesn't care...

Casdon

What an odd comment MaizieD? I think most people will be glad this has happened (nothing at all to do with their political persuasion). If you’re worried about your card being stolen, you could use contactless via your mobile.

Funnily enough, Casdon, I don't care to be constantly attached to a permanent surveillance device, or have my every single financial transaction tracked.

There is nothing wrong with cash, either. It's not even a likely source of covid infection...

Casdon

What an odd comment MaizieD? I think most people will be glad this has happened (nothing at all to do with their political persuasion). If you’re worried about your card being stolen, you could use contactless via your mobile.

Thank you Casdon. I was puzzled by the strange comment. This is the 21st century!
Also, thinking of viruses, a higher amount on contactless means less people handling grubby fivers and tenners or tapping germy fingers on the pin machines.

But what if inflation goes up then MaizieD?

Sunak said before if inflation goes up by 1% it will add £25 billion to the deficit.