A budget which feels like a throw of the dice for what equates to small growth predictions. If this does not work, the younger/working generation will be picking up an even bigger tab and more personal financial struggles as the tax burden continues to erode income.
Why on earth is £22 billion being thrown at the NHS when they said this would not be the case until the "broken" NHS was fixed. I suspect this money has every chance of disappearing like a fart in the wind. Incredibly huge gamble given that it takes up over half of the tax raid in this budget.
Why the attack on farmers who just want to ensure that their business is passed down to futures generations with minimal tax burden? Whilst more aggressive succession planning can mitigate the issue, life doesn't always work like that. People die unexpectedly and farmers have a dangerous and lonely occupation. More unnecessary financial worries thrown into the pot here.
The NI hike will be mitigated for many with the sizeable uplift in AE from £5k to £10.5k, this is good, and some will even be better off. However, the small owner managed business (just the one director with part time/low paid employees etc), i.e a worker happening to operate through a corporate structure, will be penalised.
This just feels like a huge raid on the working public and younger generation (the exact opposite of what we were told). Businesses affected will re-evaluate budgets and investment in the light of the NI burden and accordingly they will hold back on pay increases, investment in additional workers or just be forced to pass costs back into the market place, causing inflationary pressures. This trickle down effect will have far more of an impact on the average family than easing taxes on the wealthier.
I do genuinely feel worried for the younger and working generation.
Now, from my own perspective :-
I have to say, the budget amazed me and pleased me. That really doesn't make it a good budget unless I am viewing it from a completely selfish point of view.
As a 53 year old semi-retired person, the higher rate of CGT remaining at 24% for residential property disposals was a wow moment. I wasn't surprised to see CGT on share disposals to be increased, but again expected the higher rate to be more than 24% and aligned with residential property disposals.
No tweaking with ISA's, no raid on pension contributions or the accessing of tax free lump sums. Again, just wow.
For my final few working years, I can navigate the NI hike with by a reduction in Director Remuneration and plug the Corp Tax gap with an additional employer pension contribution (my NI record already qualifies me for full state pension so no need to pay the higher trigger levels). Not something quite so easy for a young director of an OMB with a young family. Again, the younger worker has been impacted here.
Nothing in the budget has really impacted me by any degree and as someone who has accumulated assets/investments and has got to a situation where money works for me, rather than me working for it, I am absolutely astounded. I expected and was comfortable with the fact that I would have some sizeable tax hit coming through, but nothing of any real note. Just incredible.
Labour lied to the people in the election campaign. They have taken their vote but offered up nothing to remove their daily grind of financial worry by delivering a hugely taxing budget. At the same time, I am sat here absolutely gob smacked and feel I have got away with one. How is that even right!!
Rachel Reeves admits this is not the budget that she would have wanted to deliver or indeed ever repeat, but deliver it she has. This just has to work for Labour, and the scrutiny is going to be intense.
I genuinely hope it works out, I really do. Not for my sake, but for the sake of the workers and the future generations picking up the legacy.