Budget 2015 - key points
Dealing with the Deficit
- The deficit is to be cut at same pace as during last Parliament - reaching a budget surplus a year later than planned in 2019-20
- This means the National Debt as a share of GDP will fall from 80.3% this year to 79.1%, 77.2%, 74.7%, 71.5% and 68.5% in successive years
- Borrowing will fall from £69.5bn this year to £43.1bn, £24.3bn and £6.4bn before reaching a £10bn surplus in 2019-20
Bringing spending under control
- To achieve this there will be £37bn of further spending cuts by 2020, including £12bn of welfare cuts, £5bn from tax avoidance and a £20bn reduction in departmental budgets
- However, the government will meet the NATO target to spend 2% of GDP on defence every year
- Spending on defence to rise in real terms - 0.5% above inflation - every year during the Parliament
- The NHS will receive a further £8bn a year by 2020, in addition to the £2bn already announced
Fuel and Roads
- No rise in fuel duty this year: the rates of tax on petrol and diesel will continue to be frozen
- Major reform to vehicle excise duties to pay for a new road-building and maintenance fund in England
Welfare:
- For children born after April 2017, Tax credits and Universal Credit to be restricted to two children, with appropriate exceptions for special cases such as multiple births
- Income threshold for tax credits to be reduced from £6,420 to £3,850
- Working-age benefits to be frozen for four years - including tax credits and local housing allowance, but maternity pay and disability benefits exempted
- Rents in social housing sector will be reduced by 1% a year for the next four years.
- Subsidies for social housing will be phased out with local authority and housing association tenants in England who earn more than £30,000 - or £40,000 in London - having to pay up to the market rent
- Disability benefits will not be taxed or means-tested while state pension triple lock to be protected
"Living Wage" introduced
A new national living wage will be introduced for all workers aged over 25, starting at £7.20 an hour from April 2016 and set to reach £9 by 2020 - giving an estimated 2.5 million people an average £5,000 rise over five years
Cuts in Corporation tax and taxes on small business will ensure that this does not impose too heavy a burden on employers such as might increase unemployment.
Comments
5. No taxation or spending without consent:
No tax, charge or levy shall be imposed, nor any public spending authorised, nor any sum borrowed by any national or local government except with the express approval the majority of the people, renewed annually on presentation of a budget which shall first have been approved by their respective legislatures;
In other words George presents his proposal, the legislatures in parliament then check it over to ensure the sums do add up, then there is a referendum to say either yes we will pay that, or no, go away and think again.
Basically restoring the order of things, its the job of the politicians who want the money to come cap in hand to the public and ask for it. Its not the job of the public to go cap in hand to the politicians who are trying to force them to pay something they don't agree with.
Following the amount of money motorists have already paid in VED alone (never mind the still extortionate Fuel duty, remembering a freeze is not a cut) the Motorways should be made of platinum, and the others from 24 carat gold.
"Living Wage" introduced
A new national living wage will be introduced for all workers aged over 25, starting at £7.20 an hour from April 2016 and set to reach £9 by 2020 - giving an estimated 0.5 million people an average £5,000 rise over five years and sending the other 2 million directly to the dole queue, as they are not worth that much to the business currently employing them
Sadly blogger wont let me use the < U > tag
The combination of the "living wage" with the reduction in the welfare cap and the rest of the £12 billion cuts in welfare will also help reverse the problem which is the biggest single cause of people being trapped in a welfare culture - the lack of adequate rewards for work when someone working all the hours God sends on an unskilled more is paid barely more, and in some cases less, than they could get on Welfare.
Because of this, I believe that the net effect of this budget will be to reduce unemployment, not increase it.