George Osbourne delivered his fifth Budget speech today and laid out plans to help savers and pensioners save more money. Taxes was another big target for the Chancellor – the amount a worker must earn before having to pay income tax will rise by £500 to £10,500.
Pensioners are now no longer to buy into an annuity with their pensions. Instead they can now use their pension fund in any way they see fit. In addition they will have access to save their money in an over-65s bond with interest rates of 2.8% or 4% depending if they save over one or three years. This will come into effect in April of next year.
On the topic of savers, Osbourne announced the merger of the cash and share ISAs (independent savings account) into one “New ISA” with a savings cap of £15,000. This means anyone can save that amount in cash and stocks. The previous system meant that only half of the old £11,800 cap could be cash has been revamped to allow any ratio of cash and stocks to be saved.
Inheritance tax will also be abolished for those working in emergency services who “give their lives protecting us”. The price of cigarettes will rise by 2% while ciders and spirits duty has been frozen – the price of beer has been cut by 1p per pint.
The Budget has attracted criticism from Labour leader Ed Miliband who claimed that it failed to address how “Working people are worse off under the Conservatives” going on to claim it was the “same old Tories”.
However Age UK’s Anne-Marie Doohan reacted positively saying that the new pension system will give “younger age groups more hope of future security in retirement.”
Has a Journalism degree would you believe. Likes: video games, talking about video games, having opinions about video games and the occasional movie. Hates: video games. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SIWJohnston
Subversive Discursives 
Leave a comment