A £1 trillion national debt and £40 billion tax bombshell for all British families

 

Don’t be fooled by Old Labour, the recently announced proposals by the Chancellor are a massive Tax Bombshell Budget aimed at the pockets of Britain’s families.

It’s a £20 billion temporary tax giveaway, then almost £40 billion of announced permanent tax rises – that’s almost £1,500 for every family. And buried in the small print is another £100 billion of unspecified tax rises to come.

The Chancellor, in one move, has doubled the national debt to more than £1 trillion, and borrowed more than at any time in our history. We now know that Britain will be paying off Gordon Brown’s debt for decades to come.

With this Budget, Gordon Brown has mortgaged the country's future to try and safeguard his own.

Massive permanent tax rises

  • £20 billion on National Insurance
  • £10 billion on income tax
  • £5 billion on alcohol and cigarettes
  • £2 billion on pensions

That is nearly £1,500 for every family over the next Parliament.

By 2012/13, anyone earning more than £20,000 will be paying more tax. So the majority of earners will be permanently worse off by April 2011, even before the alcohol and tobacco tax rises.

Those hit by Labour’s Tax Bombshell Budget include most teachers, journalists, social workers, police officers, paramedics, firemen, office managers and professionals.

What the Chancellor didn’t say in his Speech

  • Borrowing next year will be the highest as a proportion of GDP on record.
  • The national debt as a proportion of GDP will be the highest on record.
  • The Government’s growth forecasts are much more optimistic than those of independent forecasters. If the recession is in line with external forecasters, and therefore worse than the Treasury forecasts, borrowing will be catastrophically high.
  • The Government is borrowing more than the entire debt it inherited from all previous Governments put together.
  • £295 billion more borrowing than was forecast just eight months ago – more than £11,000 per family.
  • The temporary tax cuts announced today are worth £20 billion – half of the announced £40 billion permanent tax rises over the next Parliament.
  • What’s more, buried in the small-print is a £100 billion black hole in tax receipts over the next Parliament. These extra taxes are buried in the small print. In table B10 on page 198, the Government has revised up the growth in tax receipts from 2.8% to over 4% from 2011/12 - £25 billion a year.
  • The Chancellor has cut the NHS budget by £1.4 billion in 2010/11.

Bad for business

  • £2.8 billion tax rise on business through NIC tax rise.
  • Corporation tax rise, business rate relief and income shifting tax rises not cancelled but deferred by 12 months.
  • No costing for help for business.
  • Loss relief represents only 0.4% of total business tax receipts.
  • £300 million cost of temporary VAT measure.