This is a balancing act Budget. At every stage and on almost every topic there’s a bit
of good news and a bit of bad news for taxpayers.
Spending cuts are (finally) on the way, but at over £30 billion by 2014-15 they aren’t large enough, and there is plenty of dead wood that the Coalition intends to leave in place. Similarly, the rise in the income tax threshold is extremely welcome, but the VAT hike will hit the poorest hardest of all.
And so it goes down the list of Government financial activities. Indeed, the theme the Government are keen to communicate is one of leaving no stone unturned, looking at every item of expenditure and every tax for ways to raise or save money….except for one area.
Buried within the Emergency Budget documents is a table that shows what our net contributions to the EU will be over the coming years.
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