Budget Provides Relief for Workers, Savers, and Drinkers

Giles McNeill, Conservative West Lindsey District Councillor for the Nettleham Ward, has welcomed a the announcements in the 2014 budget statement today which will save money for local residents.

George Osbourne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Earners will find the personal tax allowance will rise to £10,500 from April 2015, cutting taxes for 25 million people and taking an additional 290,000 people out of paying income tax altogether. The rises in the personal allowance since 2010, implemented by the Coalition Government, mean that by April next year a typical, basic rate, taxpayer will be paying £805 less in tax than they would have been, with 3,200,000 people taken out of income tax altogether. The 2014 Budget measures do not result in any additional higher rate taxpayers. The full benefit will be passed on to higher rate taxpayers – everyone earning up to £100,000 will gain equally and will pay less tax because of this tax cut.

Meanwhile, savers will benefit from merging the cash ISA and stocks & shares ISA into a single New ISA with an annual limit of £15,000. Over 400,000 ISA holders in the East Midlands could benefit from the New ISA. Savers will also be glad to hear the ten pence starting rate of tax for savings income will be eliminated and, this zero rate will be extended to the first £5,000 of savings income, benefiting 1.5 million low-income savers.

In the biggest reform of pensions taxation in a century, the Chancellor announced that no one would be forced to buy an annuity if they don’t want to and there will be no punitive fifty per cent tax rate if you try and take more than your tax free lump sum.

Drinkers will find savings as the tax on beer will be cut by a penny a pint, helping local pubs. Duties on Scotch whisky and other spirits will be frozen, as will duty on ordinary cider. The duty escalator for wine, meanwhile, has been abolished. Cllr. McNeill said:

"The budget contains real measures that are designed to help people across the country with their cost of living. Those in work will take home more of their pay, with the increase in the personal allowance. Those who save will find their hard-erned savings will be taxed less. The duty paid on beer has been cut by a penny on the pint for the second year running.  

"Whilst the economic situation is beginning to show real signs of improvement, the parlous state of the nation's finances - the legacy of the last Labour Government - mean that the Chancellor has and will continue to make the difficult decisions which benefit hard-working people across Britain and contribute to the long-term economic viability."

Budget 2013: Local Councillor Welcomes Tax Cutting Measures

West Lindsey District Councillor Giles McNeill, Conservative (Nettleham Ward) has welcomed the 2013 Budget delivered by Chancellor George Osbourne, particularly the bold set of tax cuts announced for businesses and employers in West Lindsey.

A new Employment Allowance will take £2,000 off the National Insurance bill of every employer – open to businesses, charities and community amateur sports clubs. This will help 60,000 employers in the East Midlands, taking 30,000 out of having to pay any tax on jobs at all.

 Employers will be able to hire one extra person on £22,400 a year, or four people working full time on the minimum wage, without paying any National Insurance.

A further corporation tax cut to 20 per cent in April 2015 will see the UK having the lowest corporation tax rate in the G20, which sends a clear signal that Britain is open for business. 

Stamp Duty on shares in companies quoted on growth markets like AIM and the ISDX Growth Market has also been abolished. This will benefit around 1,000 UK quoted companies – a transaction tax removed here as 11 EU countries are looking to introduce a sweeping financial transaction tax. 

Cllr. McNeill commented:

“This is fantastic news for businesses in the Nettleham Ward and across West Lindsey. The Employment Allowance will make it easier and cheaper for firms to hire people – an employer could hire four people working full time on the minimum wage without paying any National Insurance.  

“These and the other business measures in the Budget are exactly what businesses need to hire, to expand and to grow.”

The amount people can earn before paying income tax - the personal allowance - will rise to £10,000 in April 2014.

Hard working people in Nettleham, Greetwell, Riseholme and Grange-de-Lings will be over £700 better off every year than when this Government came to office. Almost three million more of the lowest paid will pay no income tax at all.

This tax cut will benefit an estimated 35,874 people in the Gainsborough constituency. In April 2014, 430 people will be lifted out of income tax, taking the total number of people in the Gainsborough constituency lifted out of tax by Conservatives to an 4,079.

Labour want to reintroduce the 10p tax band that they abolished. Conservatives in Government have now turned Labour’s 10p tax band into a zero pence tax band. Every person paying tax at the 10p rate when Labour doubled it, will now be paying no income tax at all on that income.

Cllr. McNeill commented:

“This Budget has delivered real support for people who aspire to work hard and get on. Around 2,000 people in the Nettleham Ward will be over £700 better off every year. With this landmark tax cut, Conservatives have cut tax bills for 24 million people”.

The Government will also make ex-gratia payments of £5,000 to Equitable Life policyholders who bought their annuity before 1992, the Chancellor has revealed in his budget statement.

The Government will also make an extra £5,000 available to those on the lowest incomes who are on pension credit. There is no legal obligation to make either of these payments.

Cllr. McNeill welcomed the news, saying:

“I am proud that two years ago Conservatives in Government set aside £1.5 billion to help so many of my constituents who had been let down when Equitable Life failed.

“Now we are helping another 9,000 people across the country.

“It took nearly a decade for the last Labour Government to own up to their responsibilities. We acted immediately. This will make a huge difference to the many older people who were affected in the Nettleham Ward and across West Lindsey.”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has cancelled Labour’s planned fuel duty rise in the Budget, saving 2.7 million motorists in the East Midlands over £170 every year.

Because of the action we have taken, pump prices will now be 13 pence per litre lower than if Labour were in power. For a Vauxhall Astra that is £7 less every time families fill up the tank – or £9 less for a Mondeo. A van driver will save £340 per year and a haulier will save £5,200 per year.

Fuel duty will now have been frozen for nearly three and half years - the longest freeze in duty for over 20 years.

Cllr. McNeill welcomed the news, saying:

“This is a Budget that is delivering for families who want to work hard and get on in life.

 “Scrapping another of Labour’s planned fuel duty increases will make a huge difference to the 2.7 million drivers in the East Midlands region.

“This Government has frozen fuel duty for three and a half years - longer than any Government in the last two decades - and saving the average family £7 every time they fill up their car.”

Particularly welcome was the Chancellor of the Exchequer announcing he would scrap Labour’s planned increase in beer duty, and instead, go further, cutting the duty by a penny, meaning beer will be 1p per pint cheaper after Sunday night – 4p per pint cheaper than it would have been under Labour.

Cllr. McNeill welcomed the news, saying:

“Labour increased beer duty by sixty per cent and left our pubs fighting for survival. Nettleham is fortunate to have four pubs – the Brown Cow, The Black Horse, The Plough and the White Hart.

“We’ve not only scrapped Labour’s planned increase – we’ve actually cut it.

“It is great news for beer-drinkers, it is great for breweries, and it’s great for 4,525 pubs across the East Midlands.”

Budget 2010: Alistair Darling to Freeze Income Bands in 'Stealth Tax'

The Chancellor has decided to freeze all income tax bands, which will lead people to pay more tax on their earnings.


The tactic is being described as a classic 'stealth tax' by the Daily Telegraph and will be far larger than previously attempted. Personal allowances were last frozen almost a decade ago.

Every higher-rate taxpayer earning more than £43,875 will pay an additional £489 in tax as a result of the move, and 75,000 more people will pay this higher-rate tax for the first time.

The level at which inheritance tax becomes payable will also be frozen.

The moves are expected to be confirmed in the small print of the Budget and the rates will apply from next month.

The income tax grab comes on top of the new 50p higher rate of income tax which will come into effect next month for those earning more than £150,000.

Mr. Darling will also remove tax breaks for those earning more than £100,000. The targeting of people earning more than £100,000 is expected to raise an additional £1.2 billion.

Mr. Darling is also expected to confirm that Government borrowing is on course to total more than £1 trillion over the next few years following the 'extraordinary' actions taken to tackle the financial crisis. But speaking to Parliament at 12:30 this afternoon, he will refuse to sanction any immediate cuts to public spending, warning that it may endanger the recovery.

The Chancellor, who may have to cross a picket line of striking civil servants in order to deliver his third Budget, will today deliver what he promises will be a 'sensible, workmanlike' package of financial measures.

Mr. Darling is still expected to unveil billions of pounds in new public spending. He will announce that £1 billion of taxpayers’ money will be used for a new green investment fund. Extra money will also be earmarked to help the long-term unemployed. Schools are also set to be given extra funding.

The extra spending will be paid from the extra tax take. Government borrowing is also expected to be about £10 billion less than expected which has given Mr. Darling some room for manoeuvre.

Among the measures he is expected to announce is a new drive to stop tax evasion; a move to force banks to offer bank accounts to anyone who wants one in an effort to help those who see it as a barrier to employment; and he will update MPs on how far he has progressed to get international agreement on a global bank levy.

But discussions are still taking place over whether Mr Darling could afford to halt a planned 3p rise in fuel duty. If he does go ahead with it will mean motorists will have to pay even higher pump prices at a time when they are already heading through the 120p a litre barrier because of soaring oil prices.

There is also likely to be bad news for drinkers with a planned 5% increase on all wine and spirits.

Mr Darling is expected to revise down slightly the borrowing figures and will use it as a sign that the worst for the economy is over and that a feared 'double-dip' recession will not happen.

In a statement last night the Chancellor could not resist a barbed comment directed at Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Mr. Darling said Britain had come

"through what had been the most difficult circumstances for well in excess of 60 years."

When the Chancellor stated in the autumn of 2008 that the crisis would be the worst for 60 years he was attacked by Number 10. Last month, in an uncharacteristic intervention that lifted the lid on tensions between him and Mr. Brown, he admitted 'the forces of hell' had been unleashed on him by the Prime Minister’s advisers.

Mr. Darling attempted last year to play down the impact of freezing tax allowances as inflation was actually negative. However, inflation has now begun rising sharply which means the freezing of the tax bands is set to become a major financial issue. Inflation is currently running at three percent.

All of the main income tax bands will be frozen for the next year – including the tax-free allowance and the level at which higher-rate tax becomes payable.

This so-called 'fiscal drag' means that people pay proportionately more tax on their earnings, after receiving a pay rise. Most pay deals are linked to inflation. Income and other tax allowances typically rise in line with inflation.
If keeping pace with inflation, the tax-free personal allowance should rise from £6,475 to £6,669. However, by freezing the rate at £6,475, the Treasury will raise an additional £1 billion and every taxpayer will pay an extra £40 in tax.

The rate at which higher-rate tax is paid will also be frozen at £43,875. However, it should increase to £44,995. The Treasury will make an extra £450 million as a result - £489 for every higher-rate taxpayer, according to accountants.

The inheritance tax threshold is being frozen at £325,000 – which will raise £60m in extra revenues for the Treasury.

Last night, Mr. Mike Warburton, tax partner at Grant Thornton, the accountants, said:

"Inflation was negative last year so this was not an issue – but it certainly is not negative now. Freezing the allowances in this way shows ministers are back to their old stealth tax tricks."

The Conservatives will today warn of the extreme danger to the British economy if the debt problem is not addressed more quickly. The opposition have drawn up new research that shows the Government’s debt interest payments could reach more than £106 billion a year within five years.

Using what has happened in Greece as an example of how Britain’s debt problem could spiral. That figure would represent a trebling of the Government’s annual debt interest bill and it would be more than the annual NHS budget in England.
It would mean the cost of paying the interest on the national debt interest would rise from the equivalent of £24 per family per week to over £80 per week, or from £1,250 per year to £4,320 per year.

The Conservatives last night also announced that they are inviting people to dissect the Budget via the Tory party website – known as 'crowd sourcing'.