The well-trailed 2p cut in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) has dominated the Budget headlines, amounting to a net tax cut of £9bn. However, this is dwarfed by Tory stealth tax rises of an estimated £27bn that came into effect last year, and a further £19bn coming in after the election.
The tax burden is now at a 70-year high, and people have taken an unprecedented hit to their living standards in recent years. Those earning £19,000 or less will now be worse off because, as more of their pay is dragged above the frozen tax-free allowance of £12,570, they’ll lose more than they gain from NIC cuts. The biggest gainers are those earning £50,000, meaning that this is a Budget that will hit the poorest hardest.
Looking over the longer term, the average wage after taking into account inflation will take until 2026 to get back to its 2008 level – nearly two decades of lost pay growth.
Beware the Budget’s smoke and mirrors – the chancellor is giving with one hand and taking more with the other. A stagnant Budget from a stagnant government.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
Spot the difference
The recent Budget was proof of our “critical” financial position after 14 years of incompetent management of our country by graduate MPs with no experience of how the real world works. Their only interest is the size of their office desk in the fortunes of frequent Russian roulette reshuffles!
There are two groups of management: public sector politicians fighting and arguing among themselves while they wreck the country, and private sector captains of industry who run large successful businesses.
Spot the difference and you will see why the Budget has been labelled “desperate”.
Sometimes facts are difficult to bear when you have ignored sound advice.
Colin Mills
Address supplied
America’s impossible choice
Once again Americans must choose between the lesser of two evils – only this time it is far worse than before.
Many Americans like me sit helplessly by while extreme factions in the Republican and Democratic parties are thrusting upon us two candidates who are clearly unfit to occupy the White House.
President Biden’s possible loss of mental acuity and president Trump’s legal entanglements should disqualify both from assuming the presidency for a second term. Especially as one is passively docile, and the other is aggressively dictatorial.
Lest I remind the American people that our president has his trigger finger on a nuclear arsenal that could destroy us and other nations by simply giving a series of command codes. At a time when the world is in chaos, we desperately need leaders who can make sound and rational decisions. One misguided order or wrongful threat to an adversary could cause a domino effect of catastrophic proportions.
If we asked a magic mirror on the wall who is the most qualified of them all, the mirror would wisely not pick either Biden or Trump. From what we have witnessed thus far from these two, neither should we.
Matt Drozd
Address supplied
A voice for all women
As we mark the anniversary of International Women’s Day, the goal of achieving gender equality remains a far-fetched concept. As we have witnessed recently in Gaza, women disproportionately bear the brunt of war, death, and diseases. We have seen harrowing images of women and girls crying for their loved ones, or buried under the rubble of their homes.
Elsewhere, women and girls endure myriad challenges from period poverty to human smuggling, child marriage, sexual violence, gender-based discrimination, income disparity, and exploitation. Women’s prosperity is intertwined with peace and security. It is time to demolish barriers, dismantle entrenched stereotypes and create fair, participatory, and inclusive societies where women and girls have a voice.
Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments