The Budget 2011 - What It Means For Young Britain

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne:
"This budget has put fuel back into Britain!"

George Osborne promised a "neutral" budget.

For every give-away, there was a take.

Here are some of the main highlights of the budget that will affect young Britain:

EMPLOYMENT

Funding is to be put forward for 24 NEW technical colleges, as well as 100,000 NEW work-experience placements and 40,000 NEW apprenticeship schemes.

HOLIDAYS

All rises in passenger duty (the amount you pay) have been DELAYED.

FUEL

The price we pay at the pump has been REDUCED by 1p per litre EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

 The fuel duty escalator has been SCRAPPED and the planned rise of 4p per litre at the start of the new tax year (Monday 4th April) has been DELAYED UNTIL 2012.

TAXES

The current amount of money you earn before you start paying tax will RISE to £8,105 from APRIL 2012.

Communities Secretary - Eric Pickles:
 "This should help all the families that have been squeezed"

Council Tax is to be FROZEN across ALL COUNCILS in the UK, with OVER 40 seeing their council tax rate DECREASE.



PENSIONS

A NEW single tier scheme to be unveiled estimated to be worth £140 PER WEEK.


 But,with all these so-called give-aways, there are the "take-aways" to consider:


ALCOHOL & TOBACCO

The price we pay for a pint will RISE 2% ABOVE the rate of inflation, equating to roughly an EXTRA 10p.

The price we pay for a packet will also RISE 2% ABOVE the rate of inflation, equating to an EXTRA 50P.

THE ECONOMY

The amount of money the country will produce for 2011 has been DOWNSIZED from 2.1% to 1.7%.

The rate of inflation (the price we pay for groceries, electrical goodies etc.) will RISE from 4% to 5%.

Estimated amount of money it will borrow for 2012/13 was £91 BILLION,
 the revised figure is £101 BILLION.

There's one thing that we, the general public all learn from a very young age about borrowing:

You have to give it back sometime.

Labour Party Leader Ed Milliband:
"It's hurting, but it's not working."

Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband keeps repeating the catchphrase:

"It's hurting, but it's not working"

But with no clear-cut plan from his party, what choice do we really have?

Find how long it takes to hurt you using this 

budget calculator and post your results on the facebook page.

VAT 20% Right Way To Grow?

What is VAT?

Well VAT is simply a tax charge which is allocated for most transactions on day to day spending. For example, businesses attach VAT to the price of the product, which they are selling.
To break it down, there are three different types of VAT rates which are :


Standard rates 20 per cent
Reduced rates 5 per cent
Zero rates: 0 per cent


Standard rates:
Standard VAT rates within the UK, are rates which have been implemented among most of the goods and services that we purchase.  These are such things as bus fares, electrical goods and price of holidays.


Reduced rates:
Reduced rates, these are products or services which have been reduced –rated , because of the product itself or the circumstances of the sale. For example products which are on the January sale. Also goods being reduced because of the condition that they are in.


Zero rates:
Zero rated goods, are products which have absolutely no tax rates.
For example food, except for meals in restaurants and also children’s clothing.

Why is there an increase of tax?

Well according to the government, they think, “it is necessary to help bring down the UK’s high budget deficit”.

When the tax increased was revealed in the summer of 2010, chancellor George Osborne stated “ it would raise more than £13bn a year by the end of the parliament”.

So how is the increase of VAT going to effect us ?

Personally, even though the government are increasing VAT to bring down the UK’s high budget deficit. This poses as an extreme burden towards working class people.

This is because mostly everything which we purchase, has had a 2.5% increase. Even towards the little things such as bus fare. For example bus fare was £2 and now at the new price of £2.20. 

According to “this is money” there would be an increase towards London underground fares by 2%. Also Products like the zone 2-6 one day travel card will be permanently eliminated.

 Even the labour party have accused the government of penalising low- income families. Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband has stated that it is the wrong tax at the wrong time.

As lower income households usually spend a greater portion of their income on taxed products, this is clearly obvious that they are being effected a lot more by this dramatic VAT increase!

By Ismael Hinds