Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

One for the Kippers!

Hear is tory gift day where the Oik gives way the tax payers money to his mates!

A pound with 12 sides to it, which doesn't fit anything.

A key without a lock!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26636829

This seem's a good idea

Another Mickey Mouse Budget Im afraid.

Nothing for the middle classes, a bit for pensioners.

More drawn into trap for paying 40% tax.

Living Standards to be kept down.

budget is no better or worse (except for bookies) than might have been expected
surprises in budgets are very much something of the past

punch and judy having their inevitable handbag swinging, but really a lot of noise (as no doubt will ensue on this thread) signifying little or even nothing

BRILLIANT REPLY from Milly on the budget.

Best speech hes ever made.

ISA level up to £15k.


well, whoopy doo, that will really encourage people to save.

I dont think it was an omni-shambles this time but lacked long term vision.

Max,

But this government is relying on people spending money they don't have.

==========

Miliband response good politically, but little to do with this budget.

=======

Market a little underwhelmed!

As expected.

Excellent budget!

Miliband didn't even mention any proposals in his speech. Obviously too complicated for him.

Good ideas on pensions, tax, savings.
Nice joke about Magna Carts anniversary next year. King John, a weak leader who betrayed his brother!

This one is a corker, until your 21st birthday.



Jobs

• Under-21s taken out of employers' national insurance contributions

max - that's not a bad start at all ..... i guess there could have been variations on that, but ultimately, any scheme has a finite time line

A bad one for the market? (It is down)

ie. ISAs can soon be all in cash.

Some are saying Milly was short on detail on the budget but It was a fantastic speech, BUT now we know why..................cheating Tories yet again...............

Apparently, Osborne's team didn't send an embargoed version of the speech to Labour an hour before the Budget- as they're supposed to. Which looks pretty much like a deliberate attempt to sabotage the Labour leader's speech.

This part of the story's been flying around for a bit: loads of journalists have noted it and will report it tomorrow.

Milly odds on favourite to be PM next year bookies reporting.

BUDGET COMMENT
my accountants have no axe to grind, other than to help their clients, so their comment is worth reading - it'll almost certainly be reiterated by other professionals too

i could have paraphrased it a bit, but then no doubt some clown would have accused me of massaging it

#7 is particularly vicious, but on the brave assumption that HMRC will not misuse this power, then it has a lot to commend it

1) Annual Investment Allowance
Great news for companies looking to invest in capital equipment with 100% tax relief on capital investment up to £500,000 per year from next month. This is a rise from £25,000 only a year ago! Companies will need to plan their expenditure carefully to maximise the amount they claim.

2) Research & Development (R & D)
For those small companies undertaking Research & Development in excess of their profits, the rate of repayment for loss making companies increases from 11% to 14.5%.

3) Pensions
A major surprise on pensions with restrictions removed and flexibility given on unlocking the value of pension funds. The Chancellor announced ”no caps, no drawdown limit and no annuity”.

The proposed changes allow you to unlock the whole of your pension fund, provided you satisfy the reduced annual income requirements of £12,000. It is likely this will create significant planning opportunities now that the punitive 55% tax rate on drawdown has been replaced.

Owner managers, who have historically shied away from investing in pensions due to the restrictions on accessing their fund in retirement may now want to reconsider.

4) Exporting
The Chancellor announced he wanted to support a “Britain that builds”, aimed at encouraging owner managed businesses who export. Export finance loans were doubled to £3bn and the interest rates on them were cut by one third – this means the UK will have the most competitive export finance in the world.

Changes will also be made to Air Passenger Duty to level tax rates on long haul flights to encourage exports around the world.

To improve links across the UK to foreign markets, the Chancellor also announced start-up support for new routes from regional airports.

5) Employers
The grant funding for apprenticeships is to be doubled and extended to potentially include graduate apprenticeships, with the aim of creating an additional 100,000 apprenticeships.

There was a reminder in the Budget about the employment allowance, giving £2,000 reduction in employers National Insurance bill. From 6 April 2015 every employer with employees under the age of 21 will not be required to pay employers NIC on those employees.

Whilst these new measures help to reduce the cost of employment, the red tape in administering them may add costs.

6) Energy & fuel costs
A £7bn energy fund was announced aimed at reducing energy bills for British manufacturers, predicted to save mid sized manufacturers £50,000 on their energy bill.

Businesses buying designated plant & machinery, which is energy efficient, reduces water use or improves water quality may qualify for enhanced capital allowances.

Fuel duty rises planned for later this year, have once again been scrapped giving help to those businesses with high fuel bills.

7) Tax avoidance
A major shift in policy was announced today with the introduction of accelerated payments for disputed tax schemes. This is a requirement for taxpayers to pay up front any tax under enquiry. Many taxpayers will be concerned with the use of retrospective legislation to cover arrangements they entered into many years ago, believing them to be perfectly legitimate tax planning. This could lead to taxpayers facing significant tax bills with relatively little time to raise the funds.

BUDGET
Thomas Henry Carver emails: I have always supported the Tory Party since leaving Labour, and find my faith has been justified. What can you do for your country not what can the country do for you, is why we are coming out of the darkness and into the light! Savings for the pensioners is right and proper, for these people have been the backbone of the country over troubled times and deserve to be treated well.

It might give the young-uns a chance to learn something of value with which to hang onto a job.

But I suspect there will be a lot oh "happy birthday, here is your cards" type jobs out there.

BREAKING NEWS>>>>>>>>>>>

FORGET THE TALKING HEADS – THE OBR CONFIRMS THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT THE ‘RECOVERY’
19/03/2014 · by skwalker1964
·
There will be hour upon hour of coverage on TV and in the press today and tomorrow about George Osborne’s budget, with Labour picking holes and the Tories and LibDems fighting for the ‘credit’ for the supposed recovery.

I’ve already listened to more than I can stomach of Osborne, Ken Clarke and others claiming that their ‘hard work’ and, of course, ‘tough choices’ (we’re all in it together, after all) have resulted in the supposed economic recovery, the fall in ‘worklessness’ (their attempted fudge after the UK Statistics Authority rapped their knuckles for claiming unemployment has fallen massively when in reality it’s dropped hardly at all or risen slightly, depending when you measure from) etc.

But the government’s own OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) laid bare the truth in a single phrase. Speaking to journalists a few moments ago, and covered by BBC News (who so far have failed to spot the telling point), the Chairman of the OBR, Robert Chote, said this:

Looking over the forecast as a whole..net trade makes very little contribution and government spending cuts will act as a drag.



Whatever the hype and the spin, we now have it in plain language from the most official source: government spending cuts act as a ‘drag’ on growth.

Since this government has cut, cut and cut again its spending on everything (including the NHS, in spite of claims to the contrary), this means – in the clearest possible way – that the government has consistently delayed the economic recovery.

And now they’re trying to claim credit for the appearance of something that they’ve done their best to impede, and which would have been here ages ago if it weren’t for their actions.

They’re like someone trying to stop the earth spinning but then claiming credit for the sunrise when they fail.

"revolving door" employment is certainly already common practice in the fashion industry ..... as soon as someone's employment is about to reach "redundancy rights", they are on to a strong chance of being booted out

that said, i'm not convinced you're right, on the basis that this incentive is exactly that - i.e. for those who are looking to add employees, this may tip the balance