Steal From the Poor and Give to the Rich

So today was budget day, one of the most important dates in the political calendar. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stood before the House of Commons and detailed the government’s economic policy for the next year. And what a budget it was, but how will the policies announced today effect you? Why should you care about today’s announcements?

Because today George Osborne gave the rich the biggest pat on the back they have had in years. George Osborne himself said that “It unashamedly backs business.” Backing business is not necessarily a bad thing, but the businesses backed are the ones that created the economic crisis and the ones owned by the rich. As I moaned about earlier this week () the Chancellor cut the 50p tax rate on earnings over £150,000 to 45p. He claimed the rate earned “next to nothing”; making only a third of the original 3 billion pounds predicted. Call me stupid, but to me 1 billion pounds is a lot of money. I am sure most people would call 1 billion pounds a lot of money. When the UK has a national debt of over 1 trillion pounds I do not think we should be throwing away 1 billion pounds worth of income. But I explored the real travesty of the cutting of the tax rate in my earlier blog post.

Another pat on the back for the rich was the announcement that corporation tax will fall from 26% to 24% in April, and then to 22% by 2014. This decrease is meant to promote business in the UK, and it may do this, but it also creates a whole in the budget that will have to be filled. And as usual the people to pick up this bill will be those on low to middle incomes. By lowering corporation tax, the coalition is stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. Businesses care about one thing, making money, and the budget today encouraged this view; ignoring the needs of society.

People rely on pensions in order to be able to live once they reach an age at which they can longer work. When someone retires at the retirement age they currently have a larger amount of their pension money not taxed, compared to those who retired early. From April 2013 this will no longer the case. This is where the government have made up for their concessions to the rich. This is how the Conservatives fairer Britain works. They hit the most vulnerable the hardest. The government says this is simply making tax laws simpler and not lose anyone money, yet the National Association of Pension funds says that that between 2013 and the next election in 2015, pensioners will lose 2 billion pounds in age-related tax allowance. The coalition has grabbed money from the weakest in society and used in to plug holes for the rich.

This budget will affect everyone, and not just in the immediate future. At the start of the budget, George Osborne announced that the UK will not enter a technical recession, yet the measures implemented today will make those on a middle and low income feel as if we are in recession. The coalition is punishing the majority of society in order to make the rich that little bit richer. You should care about today’s budget because it is a gross injustice. The government is ignoring the people, and listening to the wallets of their friends. This budget goes against all public opinion and will make your life harder, by making you pay for tax breaks for the rich. The coalition has just created the knife and is asking the public to stab it. Bravo Osborne, bravo.