The Guardian View on the Tories’ Autumn Statement: Wrong to Reward the Rich and Punish the Poor

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The deepening cracks in the country’s social structure are a clear sign that voters cannot just be left to face the cold winds of the market on their own

Jeremy Hunt will appeal to voters next week, if the leaks are true, on behalf of the Tory party’s worst instincts. The chancellor’s “autumn statement for growth” is said to include inheritance tax cuts that benefit the rich, reduced welfare payments which the poor rely on, and the withdrawal of free medical care from “coasters” who want to “take taxpayers for a ride”. To push the idea that the state should, in a cost of living crisis, reward the rich and punish the poor reveals an appalling disregard for social justice.

The five giants of poverty first identified in the second world war – want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness – are returning in new forms. MPs warn that the babies of poor families are dying for want of a cot as the benefit rules don’t provide for safe sleeping provision for the homeless. Diseases caused by malnutrition and associated with destitution, such as scurvy and rickets, now appear in doctors’ surgeries. With food prices 30% higher than two years ago, the ranks of the hungry are growing. The former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown warned only this week that “poverty, as distinct from neglect, parental addictions or domestic violence, is now a principal cause of children being forced into care”. » | Editorial | Friday, November 17, 2023

The Tories have turned sour and toxic. The party is no longer fit to govern the nation. This government must therefore be turfed out of office. The sooner, the better. – © Mark Alexander

Jeremy Hunt Faces Red Wall Revolt If He Delivers ‘A Budget for the Rich’

THE OBSERVER: The chancellor’s potential inheritance tax cut in Wednesday’s budget would aid millionaires amid a cost of living crisis

Chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves Downing Street in September 2023. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
Jeremy Hunt faces a backlash from “red wall” Tory MPs if he uses a fiscal windfall of up to £20bn to deliver tax cuts for the rich rather than to help ordinary families with the cost of living, the Observer has been told.

The chancellor and Rishi Sunak are this weekend finalising an autumn statement on Wednesday that could include a major reduction in inheritance tax – four-fifths of which would benefit those with more than £1m at their death, according to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Each person with more than £1m would receive an average tax cut of £180,000, the IFS states.

After another torrid week for Sunak, in which he sacked Suella Braverman as home secretary and saw the government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda declared illegal by the supreme court, he and Hunt are determined to seize the opportunity of Wednesday’s statement to turn the political tide, finally, in the Tories’ favour. » | Michael Savage, Toby Helm and Phillip Inman | Saturday, November 18, 2023

Only an incompetent, irresponsible, uncaring fool would deliver tax cuts for the rich at a time like this! – © Mark Alexnader

Budget 2021: IFS Predicts ‘Real Pain’ for Low-income Households

THE GUARDIAN: Thinktank’s verdict on Rishi Sunak’s budget says tax rises and inflation will mean falling living standards for many

Rishi Sunak in Bury, the day after delivering the budget. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images
Rishi Sunak’s decision to raise taxes on workers amid high levels of inflation will squeeze living standards next year, causing “real pain” for low-income households, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

Issuing its verdict after the chancellor’s budget on Wednesday, the UK’s leading tax and spending thinktank said a middle earner was likely to be worse off next year as high rates of inflation and tax rises negate weak growth in wages.

It said that while Sunak was promising a new age of optimism, voters might not get much feelgood factor after the chancellor announced £40bn of tax increases this year – the largest increase since 1993.

Paul Johnson, the director of the IFS, said the outlook for living standards jarred with the chancellor’s upbeat tone. “Over the next several years a combination of tax increases and high inflation will mean very slow growth in living standards,” he said. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Thursday, October 29, 2021

Die Niederlande einigen sich auf ein Sparbudget

TAGES ANZEIGER: Drei Tage nach ihrem Rücktritt hat die niederländische Regierung doch noch eine Mehrheit für ihr umstrittenes Sparbudget erreicht. Als nächstes wird es nun von der EU unter die Lupe genommen.

Drei kleinere Oppositionsparteien sagten dem amtierenden Ministerpräsidenten Mark Rutte heute ihre Unterstützung für das Sparbudget zu.

Die Koalition aus Liberalen und Christdemokraten sicherte sich die Unterstützung der kleinen sozialliberalen Partei D66 sowie der ChristenUnie und der Grünen. Zusammen verfügen die Parteien im Parlament über 77 der 150 Sitze. » | fko/sda | Donnerstag, 26. April 2012

Budget 2012: Ed Miliband's Response
Labour leader accuses government of unveiling a millionaires' budget and says it marks the end of 'we are all in it together'

Obama Earmarks $800m for Arab Spring Nations
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Annual US budget speech outlines plans for Middle East "incentive plan", but proposal must be approved by Congress.

United States President Barack Obama has announced plans to help Arab Spring countries with more than $800m in economic aid.

Most of the financial help for the Arab Spring countries, an estimated $770m, would go to establish a new "Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund", the president said in his annual budget speech on Monday.

Obama said military aid to Egypt would be kept at the level of recent years, $1.3bn, despite a crisis triggered by an Egyptian probe targeting US democracy activists.

The proposals are part of Obama's budget request for fiscal year 2013, which begins on October 1. » | Agencies | Monday, February 13, 2012

Obama Unveils Big Spending Election-year Budget

REUTERS: President Barack Obama called on Monday for aggressive spending to boost growth and for higher taxes on the rich, laying out an election-year vision for America in a budget that drew heavy fire from Republicans for failing to curb huge deficits.

Obama's 2013 spending proposal is expected to go nowhere in a divided Congress and is widely seen as more of a campaign document that frames his economic pitch to voters and seeks to shift the focus from deficits to economic growth.

It fleshed out a major theme of his re-election campaign - "economic fairness." He wants wealthier Americans to bear more of the burden of slashing a federal deficit that was a trillion plus dollars for a fourth year in a row.

The budget proposal is a "reflection of shared responsibilities," the Democratic president said at a campaign-style event in Annandale, Virginia, referring to his call for a minimum 30 percent tax on millionaires.

In one of his best opportunities before the November 6 election to convince voters that he deserves a second term, Obama called for more than $800 billion for job creation and infrastructure investment, including billions of dollars for roads, railways and schools.

He also set aside money to hire more teachers, police and firefighters and invest in manufacturing, while extending tax breaks to spur hiring.

"At a time when our economy is growing and creating jobs at a faster clip, we've got to do everything in our power to keep this recovery on track," Obama said.

He casts his Republican rivals as the party for the rich while Republicans want to paint Obama as a tax-and-spend liberal.

The budget projects deficits remaining high this year and next before starting to decline, meaning more borrowing that will add well over $7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. » | Alister Bull and Laura Macinnis | WASHINGTON | Monday, February 13, 2012

Obama's Bid to Beat the Deficit: Tax the Rich
THE AUSTRALIAN: BARACK Obama has set the scene for an ideological battle in next year's presidential election, announcing tax increases for the wealthy.

The proposed hike is part of his plan to reduce the federal budget deficit by $US4 trillion ($3.8 trillion) over 12 years.

In a break from his conciliatory style, Mr Obama has ripped into his Republican opponents for trying to put the burden of deficit reduction on the poor and elderly while continuing to cushion the wealthy.

The President announced a broad plan for reducing the US budget deficit yesterday, including cuts to government health programs and defence spending.

But he raised Republican hackles by refusing point blank to extend tax cuts introduced by the Bush administration for people earning more than $US250,000 a year.

Mr Obama said he had agreed to renew the tax cuts for high-income earners once, as part of a deal with Republicans to guarantee cuts for the middle class. "I refuse to renew them again," he said. » | Brad Norington, Washington Correspondent | The Australian | Friday, April 15, 2011

IMF Warns US to Make a 'Down Payment' on Deficit
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The US should make a 'down payment' this year on tackling its budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund has warned, as it emerged that the world's biggest bond investor is shorting the country's bonds.

America will rack up a budget deficit of 10.8pc of gross domestic product this year, the largest of any of the developed economies, the IMF said in its latest Fiscal Monitor report.

In sharp contrast to Britain and much of the rest of Europe, the US has so far delayed any move to cut its budget deficit. Instead, through a combination of extending tax cuts and a second, $600bn round of quantitative easing, Congress and The White House have focused efforts on trying to quicken a recovery that failed to take off last year. » | Richard Blackden, US Business Editor | Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Barack Obama Locked in Last Minute Budget Talks
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama was locked in crisis budget talks with congressional leaders as the US faces the prospect of a costly government shutdown.


The shutdown would see 800,000 workers asked to stay at home and could cost taxpayers more than $100 million (£61 million) a day.

Mr Obama called for a “sense of urgency” as America sought to avoid the first shutdown since 1996 when Bill Clinton was president.

Failure to reach a deal by midnight on Friday would mean that Washington would essentially run out of money. » | Toby Harnden, Washington | Thursday, April 07, 2011

Inflation and Public Borrowing Add to Budget 2011 Headaches
THE GUARDIAN: • Consumer price index hits 4.4% for February 
• Public sector net borrowing for February at £10.3bn
 • Hopes dashed of big cut in deficit
 • News increases chance of cautious budget package

George Osborne was handed a double dose of unwelcome pre-budget news on Tuesday when official figures showed inflation leaping to 4.4% and public borrowing hit its highest February level since modern records began in 1993.

With the chancellor putting the finishing touches to his second package of fiscal measures, the rise in inflation put additional pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates while the deterioration in the public finances put paid to City hopes that borrowing in 2010-11 would significantly undershoot the government's £148bn target.

The disappointing economic news increases the chances of a cautious package from Osborne on Wednesday. The setback to the public finances gives the chancellor even less scope for budget giveaways and he will see a tough fiscal stance as necessary to prevent the Bank from raising interest rates.

Higher heating costs, the soaring price of oil and mark-ups from clothing and footwear retailers were mainly responsible for the increase in the consumer prices index measure of inflation from 4% to a 28-month high of 4.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics. » | Larry Elliott, economics editor | Tuesday, March 22, 2011

THE GUARDIAN: Inflation hits 4.4% in February: Retail prices index, which includes housing costs, hit 5.5% - its highest level since July 1991 » | Graeme Wearden | Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Economists List U.S. Budget Deficit as No. 1 Worry
REUTERS: The massive U.S. budget deficit is the gravest threat facing the economy, topping high unemployment and the risk of inflation or deflation, according to a survey of forecasters released on Monday.

The National Association for Business Economics said its 47-member panel of forecasters increased its estimate for the 2011 federal deficit to $1.4 trillion from $1.1 trillion in its previous survey in November.

"Panelists continue to characterize excessive federal indebtedness as their single greatest concern," with state and local government debt the second-biggest worry, the survey said. It was conducted between January 25 and February 9.

The panel's deficit forecast is lower than the Obama administration projection of a record $1.65 trillion this fiscal year, or 10.9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.

Although the White House budget proposes $1.1 trillion in deficit reductions over 10 years, Republicans in the House of Representatives say that is not enough. >>> Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Dan Grebler | Washington | Monday, February 28, 2011

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King Warns Unions Accept Cuts or 'Fail Your Children'
THE TELEGRAPH: Meryn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, has urged the unions to accept public sector reforms and jobs cuts by warning that anything short of tackling the UK's record Budget deficit would “fail the next generation”.



Addressing the Trades Union Congress, he described the current deficit as “unsustainable” and, in an implicit defence of the Coalition's policy, argued that “the current plan ... to reduce the deficit steadily over five years [is] a more gradual fiscal tightening than in some other countries”.

“Vague promises would not have been enough,” he told the Manchester conference, where union leaders have described the Government as the “Demolition Coalition” and threatened civil disobedience in protest at the planned reforms.

“Market reaction to rising sovereign debt can turn quickly from benign to malign, as we saw in the euro area earlier this year. It is not sensible to risk a damaging rise in long-term interest rates that would make investment and the cost of mortgages more expensive,” Mr King said.

“The costs of this crisis will be with us for a generation. And we owe it to the next generation to seize this opportunity to put in place the reforms that will make another crisis much less likely and much less damaging.”

He stressed that reducing the Budget deficit, which is forecast to hit £149bn this year – the largest peacetime deficit in history and the biggest as a proportion of GDP in Europe, is one of a number of necessary reforms, and will require co-operation from the unions. >>> Philip Aldrick, Economics Editor | Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Nation Is in Deep Debt and Stiglitz Calls for Profligacy! Osborne's First Budget? It's Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prizewinner who predicted the global crisis, delivers his verdict on the Chancellor's first Budget and tells Paul Vallely it will take the UK deeper into recession and hit millions – the poorest – badly

George Osborne will probably not be very bothered that there is a man who thinks he got last week's emergency Budget almost entirely wrong. But he should be. Because that man is a former chief economist at the World Bank who won the Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on why markets do not produce the outcomes which, in theory, they ought to.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz, who has been described as the biggest brain in economics, is distinctly unimpressed by George Osborne's strategy. This, he predicts, will make Britain's recovery from recession longer, slower and harder than it needs to be. The rise in VAT could even tip us into a double-dip recession.

Stiglitz, who was once Bill Clinton's senior economic adviser, is now professor of economics and finance at Columbia Business School. He was in the UK this week at the University of Manchester, where he chairs the Brooks World Poverty Institute, but he lifted his head from the detail of international development to scrutinise the economic strategy of the Conservative Chancellor whose Liberal Democrat partners recently reversed their judgement that massive public spending cuts now would endanger the economy and joined in the Tory slash-and-burn strategy. They were deeply wrong to do so, he believes. Continue reading and comment >>> | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Analysis: VAT and Cuts Spell Trouble for Clegg
THE TIMES: Ministers from both sides of the coalition were quick to talk up the Lib Dem Budget wins, including the £1,000 increase in the starting rate of income tax and the £150 one-off payment for poor families.

But the Lib Dems could be forgiven for a tinge of self loathing every time this is described as a “progressive” budget, as they weigh the concessions made to them against the package of horrors they must now defend.

The pictures of Nick Clegg standing in front of the anti-Tory “VAT bombshell” posters last night were gruesome enough. The Treasury graphs showing the increased burden felt by the poorest in society are even worse.

But the real challenge for the Deputy Prime Minister, and Danny Alexander, the hastily appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is that a sizeable number of Lib Dems disagree with the single biggest decision underpinning yesterday’s statement - the scale and speed of the cuts.

George Osborne revealed yesterday he wants to extinguish the structural deficit and be in surplus by the end of the Parliament with a combination of £8billion tax rises, £32billion spending cuts and £11billion welfare cuts by 2014.

The Chancellor called this “unavoidable” action needed to calm the market. But Lib Dems - and some in the markets - dispute this. The markets worry the scale of the action make tip Britain back into recession. Lib Dems point out many other countries maintain their AAA rating without paying off “every last penny” of the structural debt - money which could go to help the most vulnerable in society. Read on and comment >>> Analysis, Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent | Wednesday, June 2010

Budget 2010: VAT Rise and Benefits Cuts to Tackle Britain's Deficit
THE TELEGRAPH: VAT will rise and benefits will be cut to wipe out Britain’s budget deficit within five years, George Osborne has announced.



The Chancellor used his emergency Budget to announce that VAT will rise from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent from January 4.

He will also cut £11 billion a year from benefits and welfare payments.

High-earners will be hard hit by the measures. Anyone earning more than £49,700 a year will be almost £1,600 a year worse off, Treasury figures indicated.

The average earner will be £400 a year worse off.

Mr Osborne said the wide range of cuts and tax rises were needed to pay off the deficits Labour ran up.

“This is the unavoidable Budget,” he said.

“It is tough but it is fair. I am not going to hide hard choices from the British people.

He added: “Today, we take decisive action to deal with the debts we have inherited.”

He insisted that all income groups will share in the pain to come. “When we say we are all in this together, we mean it,” he said. >>> James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Emergency Budget 2010: Osborne Promises to Balance Books in Five Years
George Osborne holds Gladstone's original budget box as he leaves 11 Downing Street for Parliament today. Photo: The Independent
THE INDEPENDENT: A stern-faced Chancellor George Osborne delivered his "tough but fair" emergency Budget plans to Parliament, promising to balance Britain's books within five years.

In a statement issued after briefing Cabinet colleagues, Mr Osborne said the Budget aimed to protect children and pensioners and ensure the richest bear the largest share of the burden.

He then posed briefly on the steps of 11 Downing Street, flanked by his equally grim-faced Treasury team, before heading to the House of Commons to unveil his plans.

In his statement, Mr Osborne said: "My Budget is tough but it is fair. This is an unavoidable Budget because of the mess we have to clear up. So the coalition Government will take responsibility for balancing Britain's books within five years.

"We are going to do this fairly, protecting children and pensioners and ensuring the richest contribute the most. And it means getting enterprise going, because it is business, not Government, that will create the jobs of the future." >>> Press Association | Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Coalition Warns of ‘Hardest’ Budget
George Osborne will try to distinguish his measures from anything that Labour could portray as a Thatcherite attack on the poor. Photo: The Times
THE TIMES: George Osborne will claim today that the harshest Budget for 30 years will squeeze the rich more than it hits the poor. The Chancellor will seek to sell his package of record spending cuts and tax rises as being stamped by fairness as he tries to win public support for a four-year austerity drive.

Nick Clegg moved to pre-empt any revolt by Liberal Democrats last night by insisting that his party’s values were at the heart of Mr Osborne’s assault on the deficit. “This is one of the hardest things we will ever have to do,” he wrote in an e-mail to party members, an acknowledgement that the pain to come will put the coalition under immense strain.

Mr Osborne’s Budget statement is a watershed moment, when households learn how much they will have to suffer to help to pay off the country’s debts. Read on and comment >>> Roland Watson, Political Editor | Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Cameron Sets Out 'Red Lines on Economic Sovereignty
THE INDEPENDENT: David Cameron today set out Britain's "red lines" on economic sovereignty at his first summit encounter with fellow EU leaders.

He said Britain would not submit its annual Budget for "peer review" to Brussels as part of a new economic surveillance crackdown.

And he warned that proposed hefty sanctions against countries breaching deficit and debt limits set by the EU must apply only to the single currency member states.

The new boy in the bloc was invited to speak early on in today's summit debate on EU "economic governance" and, after formally introducing himself, set out Britain's well-established defence against central control over the domestic budget programme.

Summit conclusions on the table seem to offer the Prime Minister a way out of the "peer review" plan, which would require all countries to submit annual national Budget details and analysis to Brussels before presenting them to MPs.

The text backed by most EU leaders proposes that, from 2011, in the interests of strengthening budgetary discipline across the EU, member states should present their budgetary plans to the Commission each Spring "taking account of national budgetary procedures". >>> Press Association | Thursday, June 17, 2010

David Cameron to Fight EU Over ‘Show Us Budget’ Demand
David Cameron rejected demands that he should submit Budget proposals for Brussels approval. Photograph: The Times
THE TIMES: David Cameron is preparing for his first confrontation with the European Union later this week by rejecting demands that he should submit Budget proposals for the approval of Brussels.

Herman Van Rompuy, the EU President, wants all 27 member states to share financial plans with the European Commission to prevent another crisis similar to the one in Greece.

“A government presenting a Budget plan with a high deficit would have to justify itself in front of its peers, among finance ministers,” Mr Van Rompuy said. “There would still be time to adjust plans before the final Budget plans are presented.”

The proposal is likely to be discussed on Thursday when Mr Cameron attends his first European Council meeting as Prime Minister. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, described the Government’s opposition as “trenchant” yesterday. “It is not a proposal that we can support,” he said. “The Prime Minister, the Chancellor and I have all made that very clear. The British Budget must be presented to the British Parliament. That is a position we will argue for and we will maintain. The discussions on this have some way to go but our position is pretty categorical.” Continue reading and comment >>> David Charter, Francis Elliott | Monday, June 14, 2010