Budget 2016: what do you think George Osborne should do?
With the Budget under two weeks away, we want your opinion on what the Chancellor should focus on.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will deliver his seventh Budget on Wednesday 16th March.
The speech will set out what the Government has got planned for the UK’s finances.
But what do you think George should do? We would like to hear what you think about a range of issues. Please vote below and use the comment box at the end of this article to let us know!
Taxes
The Chancellor will be weighing up whether to raise, lower or keep the UK’s taxes the same ahead of next week’s Budget.
Income Tax
Commentators have speculated that Osborne could cut the additional rate of Income Tax further, after it was revealed that lowering it from 50% to 45% in 2012 defied expectations to raise an extra £8 billion in 2013/14.
It’s also rumoured that the Chancellor may want to give the squeezed middle classes a break by moving the threshold for the higher rate tax to £50,000, giving hundreds of thousands an effective pay rise.
Do you think the Chancellor should raise the threshold to £50,000 for those in the 40% tax bracket?
Public spending
The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the UK to spread its spending between these departments in 2015/16:
But as the UK economy has grown by less than expected in 2015, the Chancellor has signalled that this could mean more cuts to public spending.
Pensions
It was widely expected that the Chancellor would make changes to the rules on pension taxation. However, it looks like Osborne has backed out of making any major changes after a Treasury source told the BBC over the weekend that "it was not the right time".
However, experts suggest that doesn’t mean pensions are safe from some tinkering and there are some things he may still bring in.
Business and infrastructure
How do you think the Government should back British business?
The HS2 project to build a high speed rail service between London and Birmingham, the East Midlands and the north has been criticised for the enormous amount of money being put towards it. With a budget of nearly £43 billion it will be the most expensive project ever embarked on in peace time.
Housing
Ministers have accused British developers of limiting the supply of new homes to keep house prices high by holding back on developments that have been given the green light. Figures from the Local Government Association show that planning permissions has been granted for a record 475,647 homes in England which are yet to be built. Read Developers holding back new builds 'causing house prices to remain high' for more.
Reducing the deficit
The ONS says the central government current budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP) has reduced since the financial year ending 2010, but is still larger than before the global financial shock.
Felicity Hannah set out some of the surprising ways the Government could reduce the deficit. You can take a look at her arguments in From selling Channel 4 to a tax on sugar: extraordinary ways the Government could destroy the deficit.
How the Budget impacts you
And finally...
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Budget 2016: date, predictions and rumours
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