Them & Us – budget special


£56 billion

Osborne’s proposed tax giveaway to higher earners and business over this parliament, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. That will have to come from somewhere. Our money’s on cuts to benefits, services, jobs and wages.

-£3.5 billion

Additional cuts to national government departments, as yet unallocated.


-29%

Cut in capital gains tax – which affects sales of property and investments – for the super-rich. The derisory 28% duty will fall to 20%.

-15%

Cut in corporation tax – on business profits over £300,000 – which the Tories hardly bother to collect anyway. Last year’s laughable 20% rate will drop to 17%.

3.96 million

Workers aged 16-24 (Office for National Statistics, March 2016) – who will not be eligible for the government’s new National ‘Living’ Wage. The Socialist says: no exemptions for youth or training – pay the rate for the job!

-£1.05 an hour

Amount the Tories’ £7.20 National ‘Living’ Wage falls short of the Living Wage Foundation’s suggested rate. It falls £2.20 an hour short of the London rate. The Socialist campaigns for an immediate £10 an hour minimum wage as a step towards a real living wage for all.


+£250

Average increase in income for the best-off fifth of households over this parliament, according to thinktank Resolution Foundation.

-£550

Average loss in income for the poorest fifth of households over this parliament, according to the Resolution Foundation.


£4,000 a year

Amount of disposable income Osborne will let under-40s save tax free. He also promises a 25% top-up from the state. The move is an attempt to cover up raids on state pensions.

-£4,301.79 a year

Pre-tax shortfall between wages and cost of reasonable living – never mind having spare cash to save – for National ‘Living’ Wage earners in London. Compared to Living Wage Foundation rates, assuming a 37.5-hour working week. Shortfall is £2,053.13 outside of London.


2021

Expected year average wages will return to pre-2008 levels, according to the Resolution Foundation. Even this ‘lost 13 years’ prediction assumes no new economic crisis. It is also based on official ‘CPI’ inflation measures, which don’t cover all areas of household expenditure. Using ‘RPIJ’ inflation projections – which include some housing costs – we still won’t have recovered.