lupestripe | The Budget

I'm a bit of a masochist when it comes to The Budget. I know watching it will do little good for me but I am fascinated about such things and so will probably be viewing it at work. My boss certainly knows this is what I will be doing and seems to understand. For some reason I need to watch it live rather than catch up on it at a later time. As I say, fascinated.

I guess there will be the usual rises of tax on alcohol and travel but the raise of income tax threshold could benefit me. Aside from that, this year seems to be about public sector pay, taxing (or not) the rich or changes to benefits, all categories I don't fall into although I know people who will be affected by this. And no doubt I will unlikely be a net beneficiary overall this year, the devil is often in the detail.

I hope The Budget is good for you or at least neutral which I imagine is all you can hope for in this age of austerity. Not much is going to change for a while but there could be a few nasty surprises from that nice man Mister Osborne. I guess all will be revealed at lunchtime. Masochistically, I'm looking forward to it.

ADDENDUM: I can't really complain with that. Raising of income tax thresholds, dropping of corporation tax and investment in northern infrastructure, both Internet and railways, are all good moves. Freezing alcohol duty will also benefit me while the laws on gambling were not a surprise (and indeed are necessary). The planned 3.1p rise in fuel duty is still to go ahead in August though, although a lot can happen in the next four months.

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