http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/budget2007/ en Copyright 2007 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The political debate on the Budget has quickly settled on one issue: did the chancellor try to sell his Budget as a tax cut when in reality it is not? Yesterday, I said that he had not hidden anything: the... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/was_it_a_con.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/was_it_a_con.html Small Change Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:43:14 +0000 The morning after the night before how does the Budget look? Some talk of a tax cut, others of a tax con. Yesterday Gordon Brown was the political showman, taunting the Tories that his tax cut was bigger than theirs.... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/a_mixed_recepti.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/a_mixed_recepti.html Budget2007 Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:18:08 +0000 I felt almost nostalgic this morning when reviewing the Budget: it was very much in the tradition of Brown’s early Budgets and manifests the great paradoxes in his version of New Labour. Here’s why: 1) Like those early Budgets, it... Robert Peston (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2007/03/back_to_the_future.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2007/03/back_to_the_future.html Budget2007 Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:42:39 +0000 Hey presto! With the last announcement in the last minute of his last Budget speech Gordon Brown has sought to re-write the history of the Brown decade at the Treasury and to wrong-foot the Tories for the next decade. This... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/rewriting_histo.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/rewriting_histo.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:48:20 +0000 One more thing about this budget... we shouldn't underestimate a significant point being reached: the alignment of the national insurance and income tax systems... under the old system, you didn't pay national insurance on income over about £35,000 a year.... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/new_alignment.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/new_alignment.html Small Change Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:27:52 +0000 1. There will be losers - even if we can't identify them easily, as it's a complicated package. 2. It is a watered down version of the Tory and Labour strategies for greenifying the tax system. By 2010, green taxes... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/six_thoughts.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/six_thoughts.html Small Change Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:12:48 +0000 There were howlers in my hastily drafted initial budget blog. Here is my more considered view with - I hope - fewer solecisms. The big point is that the corporate tax reforms, including the changes to depreciation allowances, are good... Robert Peston (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2007/03/brown_woos_big_business.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2007/03/brown_woos_big_business.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:08:47 +0000 I'm feeling positively nostalgic. Today felt like one of those pre-election budgets in the Tory years where tax cuts were announced with a flourish. There is, though, no overall giveaway. This budget is revenue neutral. It cuts personal tax by... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/headline_change.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/headline_change.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:55:44 +0000 This is a complicated package of national insurance and income tax changes - whopping changes in fact. Gordon Brown has abolished the lower starting rate of income tax - 10p rate - that’ll raise him eight and a half billion... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/whos_paying_for_it.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/03/whos_paying_for_it.html Small Change Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:48:40 +0000 ...we have the answer. Scrapping the 10p rate saves him 8.6 billion whilst cutting the basic rate costs 9.6 billion. Net cost around a billion pounds. How's that paid for - by scrapping empty property relief. Clever hey? Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/and_lo.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/and_lo.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:31:45 +0000 And - hey presto - there's the rabbit out of the hat. A 2p cut in income tax. Plus three billion more for families and pensioners. The issue, of course, is how it's being paid for, as Gordon says there's... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/checking_the_re.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/checking_the_re.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:24:10 +0000 Spending one billion pounds on increasing the Working Tax Credit will give more money to poorer families in work, will reduce what's called the "couples penalty" - the fact that there's a financial benefit to staying single. Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/couples_penalty.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/couples_penalty.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:14:41 +0000 Brown rejects "representations" i.e. Tory policy to tax domestic flights - as they would only achieve in a year what his Climate Change Levy achieved in a week. Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/another_off_the.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/another_off_the.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:06:30 +0000 Although the 2% cut in Corporation Tax is 1% less than the Tory promise this week neither plan involves an overall cut in business taxation. They involve restructuring the tax by cutting tax reliefs - the Tories all if them,... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/first_tory_fox.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2007/03/first_tory_fox.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:56:49 +0000 George Osborne will be feeling pretty pleased with himself, because the Chancellor’s plans to cut the headline rate of corporation tax and simplify the company taxation system bear a striking resemblance to proposals he announced on Monday. Brown is cutting... Robert Peston (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2007/03/a_tax_reforming_budget.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2007/03/a_tax_reforming_budget.html Budget2007 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:52:36 +0000