‘Boring’ Budget Changes Little
7 March 2024
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Energy and Environment
Andy Mayer writes for The Telegraph
7 March 2024
Energy and Environment
Andy Mayer quoted in The Telegraph
7 March 2024
Housing and Planning
Julian Jessop writes for City AM
IEA Economics Fellow Julian Jessop has written for City AM analysing the Budget.
Julian wrote:
“This was a boring Budget – a verdict which will be reassuring for some and frustrating for others.
“The Budget blockbuster – such as it was – was the additional 2p cut in NI. This was well trailed in the press, which old Treasury hands like me find annoying. Budget details are potentially market sensitive, Parliament should hear first, and leaking to selected political hacks increases the risks of favouritism.
“But that grumble aside, it does make sense to cut NI – a tax on employment income and jobs – rather than income tax. This is more likely to encourage people back into work, or to increase their hours, and therefore ease labour shortages. The Chancellor has also set out a path to lower tax by signalling that NI will be cut further as the public finances allow.
“However, this welcome tax cut was partly funded by a blizzard of tax increases, and of course the overall tax burden is still set to rise even further. This Budget did nothing to address the problem of ‘fiscal drag’ from the freezing of personal allowances, although the threshold on the high-income child benefit charge was raised.”
Read Julian’s full piece here.
Julian wrote:
“This was a boring Budget – a verdict which will be reassuring for some and frustrating for others.
“The Budget blockbuster – such as it was – was the additional 2p cut in NI. This was well trailed in the press, which old Treasury hands like me find annoying. Budget details are potentially market sensitive, Parliament should hear first, and leaking to selected political hacks increases the risks of favouritism.
“But that grumble aside, it does make sense to cut NI – a tax on employment income and jobs – rather than income tax. This is more likely to encourage people back into work, or to increase their hours, and therefore ease labour shortages. The Chancellor has also set out a path to lower tax by signalling that NI will be cut further as the public finances allow.
“However, this welcome tax cut was partly funded by a blizzard of tax increases, and of course the overall tax burden is still set to rise even further. This Budget did nothing to address the problem of ‘fiscal drag’ from the freezing of personal allowances, although the threshold on the high-income child benefit charge was raised.”
Read Julian’s full piece here.
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