March 2024 budget

[adam2]

This thread is for reports about the budget, and comments thereon.
Please confine budget related posts to this thread.

[mr brightside]

So the 2p cut to NI- does that mean i'll be saving 24p a year?

[clv101]

If the papers are to believed, not much point in watching the budget, it's all been leaked/briefed before hand!

[Potemkin Villager]

The not so subtle art of desperately trying to buy votes.

[adam2]

Not a bad budget IMHO.

reduction IN N.I. Good In my view as N.I. is in effect a tax on jobs.
Air passenger duty increased on business class fares. Good in my view, I am opposed to excessive air travel and therefore support taxes thereon. I would have preferred it to apply to ALL air fares.
Freeze in duties on drink, good news as already far too expensive. I would have preferred a freeze only on draught beer, don't mind slightly higher prices for cans and bottles.
Increased duty on cigarettes, good news, the filthy habit should be discouraged.
Freeze in duty on road fuel, regrettable in my view as use should be discouraged by higher prices.
Extending windfall tax on oil and gas production, good in my view as use should be discouraged.
Reducing tax breaks on second homes, good in my view.

[UndercoverElephant]

The not so subtle art of desperately trying to buy votes.

..when you are skint. It won't work. Nothing they do or say will make much difference now, because the public have simply had enough of them.

[mr brightside]

So the 2p cut to NI- does that mean i'll be saving 24p a year?

They always edit out the 'in the pound' bit, or perhaps i'm thwarted by my own lack of interest in fiscal matters.

[BritDownUnder]

I remember an actuary telling me that National Insurance was one of the worst con-jobs inflicted on the British people. Young people are in effect being taxed to provide an income for older people.

All of you living in the UK may not have noticed but there is something called a "New State Pension" being rolled out to people born after a certain date in the 1960s that requires you to have made 10 years of qualifying NI contributions in order to get any pension. Something I watch out for as actually I don't want to qualify for the UK state pension as it is treated poorly by Australian authorities from a taxation point of view and prevents you from getting the Australian State Pension.

[Ralphw2]

To get the full UK state pension (which is just over personal taxation threshold, so you never get the full amount) you need to have paid enough NI tax for iirc 35 years over your lifetime. If you haven't contributed enough in enough years, you can 'buy' extra years by paying up front. Women get free years whilst off work bringing up kids, and there are other loopholes. The rules for the self employed are completely different.

I just qualify for full pension even though I don't get it for another 6 years, better half gets it this year.

If you don't qualify, you go onto income support, which means you get nothing until you have spent most of your savings, and you are treated like dirt.

[clv101]

Women get free years whilst off work bringing up kids...

Anyone in receipt of child benefit earns NI years, irrespective of working. Gender is not a factor!

[mr brightside]

The rules for the self employed are completely different.

They pay naff all anyway. When i was a contractor i couldn't believe how little i was paying in NICs, and how much i could get back in VAT, often with other people's fuel and tooling receipts.