B'stard Brown

But he has, and his plan has worked, he's a clever bugger, that's one of the reasons why he's the chancellor. The main aim of this budget is to pave the way for his next position in Government! I'm afraid that your (and my) financial situations come a poor second.

Julian.

My boss owns an Avensis and dreams of a monster. His avensis is a planetilling gas guzzler 4x4 apparently, being about 5g over.

As he said "I could drive a brand new V8 Rangie for the same road tax, bastards".

I'd read that in making the announcements the labour benches had erupted into catcalls, but the chancellor himself took great pains to point out in his speech that due to other changes there would be no net gain or loss in tax, so it doesn't seem like he's trying to fool anyone with that particular bit.

The VED hike on the other hand is pure theatre. A tiny addition on an expensive car, while the cut in tax for lower emitters looks only of use to preeners. Doesn't take into account miles driven so fat load of good it is but some people will use it to give themselves greenie points.

Not me, but watch the comics for "what does this mean to me" type columns, there's one on the beeb at the moment that suggests tax goes up but the national insurance threshold rises so you pay less NI and the two cancel each other out. There's also tax credits for those on low income, provided they can figure out what to pay claimants this time!

Don't forget that high earners make up the minority of voters, low to mid earners aren't going to get clobbered! They can't clobber low earners or they'll not endure the bad publicity coupled with the hit on votes they'd get from them. They're getting it in the neck from pensioners enough as it is.

I'm pissed off as I didn't renew mine on 1st March as the vehicle has been off the road from 25/2 till last weekend. Now I have to pay another £5.

F**king C**t B*st**d Brown

Alex

On or around Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:09:53 -0000, "Steve" enlightened us thusly:

nope. you've got it right and Brown has his eye on the main chance.

But Range Rover Sport "owners" aren't going to panic and sell their car for the sake of £200, one because it's a fraction of the cost of a service at a main dealers (never mind the cost of the vehicle), and two because very few are actaully owned privately, most will be bought/leased through companies (effectively raising tax for business rather than individuals). Gordon has been very clever there, you can't argue too much about the tax hike as it's "green", and drivers of such vehicles are typically pretty high on the ego league - I can hear some in the golf club saying "of course mines a band G....". It's the same as the price of petrol, when it hit £1.00 a gallon there was huge wailing a gnashing of teeth, but did it affect car sales?

Down the line it probably won't have too much effect either, post 38a Range Rovers, Discovey II's etc aren't going to be kept on the road for years like their predecessors, already obsolete spares are putting 38a's off the road as frequent model changes mean no one is willing to manufacture at low volumes for the prices people are prepared to pay. There's nothing new there for most marques - how many old Land Cruisers do you see on the road?

Richard

It's a fraction of the cost of a service for pretty much any motor let alone "expensive" ones.

I can't remember when petrol was =A31/gallon, it's over =A34/gallon at t= he moment. =A31/gallon would be around 22p/litre...

Nope people "need" their cars, there may well be an affect on the number= of unnecessary journeys made though.

Quite, and as was pointed out on the radio yesterday, it's the price of one tyre - pocket money to those who can own such things. (I've no strong views on the issue BTW, a car like would be a pipedream for me - but good luck to those who can afford one.

Julian

Wow, what kind of cars do you drive! My Audi's small services never cost more than £150 and the recent 120,000 "big" service was less than £300! A big contrast to my Defender, where the prices were £250 for a small service and at least £500 for a big one, and much more frequent too.

According to the Beeb, anyone earning between about 17k and 40k will be better off, the rest will lose. That'll be me, then. And I don't earn over

40k, before anyone asks.

Apparently, the 10% tax band (which I supported) was there to help people into work. Removing it is, apparently, to help people into work. They had some wonk on PM last night who was asked why GB was abolishing the very tax he brought in. It seems that it has "done its job". Pardon?

They just have. Or do I misunderstand "take away the 10% tax band and replace it with 20%"?

Yes you appear to have. For a start, it's 20% and not 22% any more IIRC, and national insurance changes too so you pay less on lower incomes. That's from what's been bandied about in the press, I've not done the maths, because to be honest I've got better things to do, like bang nails through my toes!

I really, really hope that he wins the leadership election. Then I can watch his face when he gets booted out at the next election.

What's that business with the chin all about, anyway?

According to one of the myriad tables in this mornings paper, there is a small band around £35k that will be worse off.

Adrian

I don't think so. For those between (approx) 11k and 17k the lower basic rate won't offset the loss of the 10% rate. Below that, tax credits will save you. That's according to the beeb. Like you, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than think about tax rates.

This is very true but this is done in fair and consistent manor. The more you use, the more you pollute, so the more you pay.

Anyway fuel duty is far too much money.

Funny isn't it. Fuel duty goes up, the price rise is seen at the pump the same night.

Cruse oil price goes up and the rise is seen at the pump straight away.

Crude price falls, then 5 or 6 months later the price at the pumps drop a little big, but never proportionally with the crude price.

This country is up s**t creek and no-one that can do anything about will do, cos they are coining it in so they don't give a rats ass.

LOL

I was wrong. Original info was from the budget analysis on the PM programme. I just checked with the budget calculator on the BBC website. Big change - it seems I will be £8 a year *better* off.

Wow.