The Budget 2007
There has been great speculation about this Budget just like any other. Individuals look at their own specific circumstances and make a judgement on what 'it means for them'. Whilst this entirely understandable of course a Budget is not simply about the personal tax situation of 60 million people. Those who 'gain' from a budget very rarely comment and those who feel they 'lose' are pretty vocal.
I will post responses to points raised in this page as well as to explain the overall economic framework which is more important to delivering family wealth than a simple tax level!
Andy
A number of people have suggested they will be 'losers' in this Budget. Clearly it is impossible for me to judge every individual case - it will depend on so many different factors - wages/income/ lifestyle/ smokers/ drinkers/ children and their ages etc etc
A Budget can and should not be taken in isolation to other matters and finances - tax credits, child care, child benefit, national minimum wage, other benefits, non eraned income, pensions etc. To make sure all 60 million people are not affected by a change in simplifying the tax system is impossible.
All I can work on is the models produced by groups like the Institute for Fiscal Studies on a range of typical familes/ groups. This time their research has shown that that biggest gainers by 0.8% growth in real terms were the lowest decile of the economy. Overall this group has gained the most from the 10 years of Labour budgets under Gordon Brown.
At every Budget there will be losers and winners - depending on your defenition. A Budget remains a way of raising and spending money on essentail public services and the changin deomgraphic pressures on the country ie an increasing elderly and active population.
Message from Gordon Brown
Over the ten years I have been Chancellor, the priorities of families across Britain have been my priorities.
Whether by keeping mortgages low, providing the economic stability to deliver record employment and sustained investment in schools, this Government has worked hard to support hard working families.
Living standards have risen, thousands of children and pensioners have been lifted out of poverty and there are over two million more people in work.
So I was determined today to continue to put families at the heart of the Budget with more support for children, for pensioners and for schools.
When Labour came to power in 1997, child benefit was just £11. We've already increased it by over 50 per cent. Today I announced that over the next three years it will go up to £20 a week.
And nine out of ten families also now receive child tax credit, introduced by this Government, to help families with the cost of bringing up children. We are also going to increase this by a further £150 a year.
And to continue our attack on child poverty, the maximum amount of child tax credit will be raised to £75 a week.
These changes will lift another 200,000 children out of poverty.
There's more money for schools as well. Thanks to the hard work of teachers and pupils - and record investment in education - we've seen dramatic improvements in school results over the last decade.
We'll keep increasing investment in schools so that by 2010, spending per pupil will not be the £2,500 a year it was in 1997 but £6,000 a year.
There's more help for pensioners as well as we move, as we have promised, to restore the link between the basic state pension and earnings which was broken by the Tories.
By increasing pensioner tax allowances, we will lift 600,000 pensioners out of tax altogether. We also announced plans to raise the threshold on inheritance tax.
But I also know that families want more action to help reduce pollution and tackle climate change.
So we are making sure that those motorists who drive cleaner cars will pay less in duty while those with the most polluting vehicles pay more.
We are going to give more encouragement and advice as well to families to help them cut energy bills at home.
All this is only possible, of course, because of the strength and stability of our economy.
Under this Government, Britain continues to enjoy the longest sustained period of economic growth in our history.
Unlike the misery - 15 per cent interest rates and three million out of work - caused by the deep recessions of the Tory years, our economy has grown every single year.
And to help business continue to prosper and create jobs, I have cut corporation tax by 2p.
There are already over two million more people in jobs than in 1997 but I want to go further to reward work.
So our economic stability has enabled me to simplify the tax system for families by removing the 10p starting rate of income tax and cutting the basic rate by 2p to just 20p - the lowest basic rate for 75 years.
As a result of the changes announced yesterday, a family with two children earning £27,000 will be £500 a year better off.
That's why I believe today's Budget was a Budget for Britain's future and a Budget for Britain's families.
Yours sincerely,
Gordon Brown
Labour's Chancellor of the Exchequer