Budget speeches are always interesting as they are a blend of give and take which usually
leaves Joe and Jane Public wondering if they’ve been had.
With storms outside and global economies doing about as well, you’d be forgiven for thinking Mr Darling didn’t know whether to wind his a*se or scratch his watch.
Overall the budget was nothing that radical; when the media gets that excited about plastic bags there can’t be much going on.
But the devil is in the detail, or in this case, what was announced in last year’s budget
statement and hence didn’t get a mention; from 6th April this year, we will see some other changes:
- 10% income tax goes with the 22% basic rate coming down to 20%
- The over 65s will get a boost, as their personal allowance before tax goes up to £9,030 from £7,550.
- Downside for bigger earners, is that the upper earnings limit for National Insurance goes up £100 a week to £770. So instead of 1% this gets hit at 11%.
A key point the last one, if you’re earning over £35k. If you’re on £40k or more you’ll feel the full effect of a £43.33 per month drop in income - probably just enough to knock out the benefit you felt you might get from “this year’s” budget.
1 comment so far
1 John // Mar 13, 2008 at 9:18 am
Some excellent points, that I am sure most of us will have forgotten about from last years budget.