Ugh

[LeftishBrit]

George Gideon Oliver Osborne. The Budget. The NHS mess. The roads. Next thing they'll privatize the air that we breathe. The demonizing of poor, sick or disabled people. The vileness of Cameron. The uselessness of Clegg. The whole system where as Gilbert and Sullivan said in the 19th century:

When in that House MPs divide,
If they've got a brain and a cerebellum too,
They have to leave that brain outside
And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to!


The right-wing media that makes all the right-wingery possible.

Ugh.

The one good thing is that at least the public is far more against at least some of the 'reforms' than they were under Thatcher.

[TheMastersNemesis]

1. Thatcher

Thatcher was your Reagan and Britain like the US has been going down hill ever since. I am amazed at what is happening in the UK.
I still think that our billionaires have linked up with your elite to destroy what they believe is socialism.

[enlightenment]

2. My son called me yesterday to tell me

he was made redundant. He has been working for a social service agency in London and their funding has taken a hit - and is anticipating more. Since he was the new hire (and a student and not a UK citizen) they had no choice. He's gutted - and so angry that the people who need the help the most are those that are going to suffer the most because of this return to Dickensian values (his clients, he means - though I'm worried about him now, too).

[fedsron2us]

3. Tax cuts for millionaires. Tax rises for pensioners.

The abolition of the age allowance from next year will hit pensioners with modest private pensions (say circa £6,000-10,000 per annum) on top of their state pensions quite hard. They will be shelling out an extra £300 per annum in tax to keep Gideons chums in the manner to which they have become accustomed. The danger for Tory MPs is that this is playing very badly with a key element of their core vote as any quick glance at the Telegraph and Daily Mail headlines will prove.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/9158143/Budget-2012-George-Osbornes-3-billion-pension-raid-helps-pay-for-tax-cuts.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2118134/BUDGET-2012-Granny-tax-pensioners-Osborne-hits-300-000-higher-tax-refuses-stop-fuel-duty-rise.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The comments are well worth reading to see how badly this is playing with some Tory voters

[oldironside]

4. That for me is the key to it.

I found what I expected on the Grauniad's comments page (even the trolls were predictable), but both the Torygraph and the Hate Mail have the same tone. I have to concede that the spelling in the Mail was less accurate though.

It seems to me that Cameron and Gideon are so far out of touch that they don't realise they've shat on their own core vote to provide tax cuts for the very rich. The reaction reminds me of when Peter Brook calmly announced that the taxpayer would pay to rebuild Windsor Castle after the fire. i.e. "No we bloody well won't!"

Unfortunately the electorate have short memories and the next election is a long way off.

[fedsron2us]

5. The General Election may be some way off but the Local Elections are in May

Tory local councillors may be the first to get any voter back lash. The only thing I can see saving them is the a fact that the Liberal Democrats are likely to take the bullet first. In fact if I was a local Tory I would be ensuring that Clegg got all the 'credit' for the tax allowance changes as it is his party's flagship policy. Surely even the Labour Part can not miss the yawning open goal they are being offered here

[T_i_B]

7. Having just endured Clegg bullshitting his way through the Jeremy Vine show....

...I think the Lib Dems will get it in the neck ahead of the Tories, who at least have a large tribal section of their vote that the Liberal Democrats lack. Clegg being all in favour of this cobblers will hurt the Lib Dems but that's nothing new.

Question is, will Labour be able to take advantage or will they cock it up? I for one am not about to underestimate Labour's ability to miss an open goal. They are just as out of touch as the other parties I'm afraid.

[Matilda]

6. Budget 2012: Pensioners hit by loss of income tax breaks

The surprise decision to scrap income tax breaks for the over-65s will leave Britain's pensioners worse off by more than £1bn a year by 2015.

Citing the need to simplify pensions, Osborne also plans to save £3.5bn by freezing age-related allowances for half Britain's pensioners, affecting 5 million people by the end of the parliament. The Treasury stressed that no pensioner will be worse off in cash terms.

The loss for existing pensioners will be £63 a year and £197 for new pensioners. Higher figures were produced by independent pension advisers. In his speech Osborne made little of the announcement, and will realise that he is going to be criticised by pensioners' groups. The Treasury argued that overall pensioners have been relatively well protected since the coalition came to power

The much-heralded increase in the standard personal allowance, to £9,205 in 2013, will put an extra £220 a year into the pockets of 24 million taxpayers, the chancellor said. But pensioners will be picking up part of the bill for Osborne's giveaway.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/21/budget-2012-pensioners-hit-income-tax-breaks


I'm always amazed at the sort of twisted logic that leads consersvatives to undertake measures such as this, and is why I could never, ever vote conservative.

But what does Nick Clegg think he's doing? Surely his party wasn't elected for this?

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Highly dubious assumptions uncovered in the case that 50% tax brought in so little

Overall, this shows how not to implement tax changes. Labour screwed up by giving more than a year's notice of the new 50% rate; that allowed plenty of time to arrange bringing forward income so that it was only taxed at 40% (remember that increases in excise duties often come in the very same day as the budget). And, of course, they'll delay income if they can so that it attracts the new rate of 45%.

Here’s an amazing fact. Apart from the leap in the personal tax allowance, what was the largest annual tax cut today? Expected tax avoidance this year.

In fact you may have missed the mini fiscal stimulus at the heart of this Budget. There will be a £3bn fiscal loosening over the next year, followed by a £3bn tightening in the following years. What may be surprising is that this is almost entirely caused by £2.4bn of tax avoidance from Britain’s rich this year, that is then unwound in later years. Yes, this is the OBR’s expectation in this financial year that the rich will not pay out £6.5bn of dividends and bonuses in this tax year, but shift it into April 2013 when it attracts the 45p tax rate. Perfectly legal.

This follows on from that truly amazing staistic that I revealed on Channel 4 News on Monday. The Chancellor confirmed in his speech that Britain’s rich moved a staggering £16bn of dividends and bonuses. The HMRC report says £16-£18bn. My report on Monday put this “forestalling” at £18-20bn.

So the fact remains that the decision on the 50p rate was made on the basis of one year’s highly distorted data. Now the chancellor’s take on this was that avoidance at this level shows that the tax didn’t work. But what he didn’t say was that the forestalling effect was a one-off. The HMRC report does try to strip out the impact of forestalling and analyse other “behavioural impacts”.
...
http://blogs.channel4.com/faisal-islam-on-economics/budget-2012-tax-avoidance-and-the-50p-rate/16428

And a more technical blog on why the figures HMRC came up with are dubious: http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2012/03/did-the-50p-tax-rate-really-raise-less-than-1-billion-in-201011/

Via Liberal Conspiracy