Winners and losers from Jeremy Hunt’s autumn Budget

[CharlieH]

 

Millions of workers will benefit from a 2p cut in national insurance as Jeremy Hunt announced moves to ease the tax burden ahead of next year’s general election.

The Tory chancellor said the 2 per cent reduction in the national insurance rate will save someone earning £35,000 more than £450, and that the change would benefit 27 million people.

 

He also confirmed a tax break for big businesses who invest will be made permanent, something that he claimed was the “biggest business tax cut in modern history”.

Mr Hunt claimed it amounted to “the biggest package of tax cuts since the 1980s”. But the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) said the plans mean the tax burden would hit a post-war high by 2028-29.

The Independent takes a look at the big winners and losers from the chancellor’s autumn statement:

Winners:

Workers

The chancellor’s big “rabbit in the hat” trick was a 2 per cent cut to national insurance, which will benefit 27 million people, possibly as soon as January.

Workers earning up to £50,000 currently pay 12 per cent in national insurance contributions (NIC), so will now pay 10 per cent. It means somebody on the average salary of £35,000 will save more than £450 a year.

However, there was no income tax cut. And the OBR pointed out that the fiscal drag process – frozen tax thresholds that mean more low earners who have had pay rises have been pulled into paying the 20 per cent basic-rate income tax – will mean nearly 4 million additional workers paying income tax, and around 3 million more moving into the higher rate bracket.

 

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