The Chancellor has raised taxes by £40 billion.
That is among the many announcements in Chancellor Rachel Reeves budget speech today which include:
Employers’ national insurance contributions goes up 1.2% to 15% in April 2025. The threshold for paying them will fall from £9,100 per year to £5,000.
The headline rates of capital gains tax will increase, with the lower rate rising from 10% to 18% and the higher rate from 20% to 24%.
Stamp duty land tax surcharge for second homes will increase by 2% to 5%, and will come into effect from Thursday.
The Government will not extend the freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds beyond 2027/28, saying it would “hurt working people” to keep thresholds frozen.
National insurance on wages, VAT and income tax will not increase in this Budget.
The national minimum wage will rise by 6.7% to £12.21 an hour. The Government will move to a single level of the minimum wage which will mean a flat rate for those 18 and above.
A “flat rate duty” on vaping liquid will be introduced from October 2026. Taxes will also increase on tobacco. Meanwhile draught duty on alcoholic drinks will fall by 1.7%, meaning “a penny off a pint in the pub”.
The 5p cut to fuel duty will be kept into next year. She said keeping the cut and freezing it again will cost £3 billion.
Ms Reeves reiterated the Government’s commitment to the pension triple lock, telling the Commons the basic and new state pension will rise by 4.1% in 2025-26.
The Government will set aside £11.8 billion to compensate those affected by the infected blood scandal and £1.8 billion to compensate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Ms Reeves announced a £22.6 billion increase in the day-to-day health budget as well as a £3.1 billion increase in the capital budget.
Defence spending will rise by £2.9 billion next year and provide £3 billion of support to Ukraine each year.
£1.4 billion will rebuild more than 500 schools as part of a 19% real-terms increase in the Department for Education’s capital budget, along with £2.1 billion for school maintenance.
The core schools budget will rise by £2.3 billion next year, with an extra £1 billion funding increase to special educational needs provision.
Local government will get an “significant real-terms funding increase”, with £1.3 billion of extra grant funding.
The Government will invest more than £5 billion in housebuilding, and £1 billion of funding to remove dangerous cladding next year.
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