Just what did George do for you?

Joshi Herrmann asks our panel of Londoners what they thought of Osborne’s Budget measures and works out how it will affect them

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Joshi Herrmann

22 March 2012

To find out how it affected our panel of Londoners, we asked accountant PriceWaterhouseCoopers to crunch the numbers for their income, lifestyle spending and household arrangements to see if they were winners or losers from Osborne’s plans — figures in the arrows show what they gain or lose in the next year.

They also told us their views on the Budget’s talking points: the abolition of the 50p rate, the Treasury’s plan to send taxpayers a summary “tax sheet” of where their money is going and the withdrawal of child benefit from any household where one member earns more than £60,000.

Tim Alford, 30

e-commerce merchandiser, Islington

Tim will get to keep £172 more of his £40,000 salary next year thanks to the increased personal allowance (which is £8,105 in 2012/13). His moderate drinking and smoking will cost him £38 more in the next 12 months, after a packet of cigarettes increased by 37p, a pint of beer by 3p and a bottle of spirits by 41p. Tim’s average car usage — 3,000 miles — will cost him just £20 more.

Tax sheet: “I think this is a really

good idea and long overdue. You would hope if they know where tax money goes, people might think more carefully about who to vote for, based on how the different politicians are going to spend their money.”

Child benefit: “I agree with the change in principle but it should be based on household income as opposed to one parent or guardian’s earnings.”

Charlene Legg, 25

Volunteer co-ordinator, Leytonstone

Charlene gains just under £200 from the extension of the personal allowance on her £25,000 salary, a figure which will rise to almost £400 in 2013/14. Her partner’s 15-a-day smoking and their moderate drinking means they will spend £71 more thanks to the increased sin taxes.

50p rate: “They say they are scrapping it because it has raised ‘just’ a few hundred million pounds in its first year rather than the £2.5 billion initially estimated. A few hundred million could go towards keeping Sure Start centres open when families most need them, though.”

Tax sheet: “The tax ‘breakdown sheet’ isn’t about transparency, it is the Government trying to prove that cuts are necessary. My summary will state that I contribute £1,900 a year towards welfare. In fact, when you break this down, £800 of this goes towards pensions, although they want us to imagining we are subsidising ‘welfare scroungers’.”

Risham Shuja, 31

Bakery owner, Richmond-upon-Thames

Driving 10,000 miles a year will cost Risham £29 more next year. The £20,000 that she plans to take from her bakery business will yield £153 more this year and £373 next thanks to the personal allowance increase.

Tax sheet: “There will be costs associated with this, I think a high level breakdown on the internet of what the Government spends is fine but we don’t need a personal breakdown, no one will really read it and it just means more wasted paper and cost of getting the figures done.”

Child benefit: “I have met mums who don’t want more working hours because their benefits get taken away. I think this is a major fault in the system. We need to encourage full-time work while having a family not make mother think twice about moving up from part-time hours.”

Lucy Brisbane, 19

Sociology student, Blackheath

Because she only does part-time acting and writing work which earns her less than £8,105, Lucy is not affected by the change to personal allowance, although its increase allows her to earn £630 more tax-free next year. Most young people are hit disproportionately by the sin taxes, although Lucy’s lower-than-average drinking means she will only pay £13 more.

50p: “It is so utterly hypocritical. It is all cuts and savings in the NHS, education, charity funding and everywhere else but why not give millionaires a break? Grant Thornton estimates that someone earning over £1 million (gross income) will save £85,000 a year. By my bad maths, the saving for one £1 million earner could cover the full fees of three BA students for a year.”

Child benefit: “I’m worried about single parents being worse affected, because their income might disqualify them when a couple who both earn slightly less will still receive it. The general impact of the Budget on women is a concern.”

Yvonne Brown, 50

Solicitor, Barnet

Drinking an average of seven pints and two bottles of wine per week will cost Yvonne’s household £48 more next year. Her well paid part-time legal work won’t benefit from the 50p cut but she and her partner will pick up £304 because of the increased personal allowance.

50p: “The 50 per cent rate seems right to me. It does not prevent wealth creation nor discourage hard work. What seems inconsistent is that some people only pay 20 per cent on their income because they arrange to be paid through a limited company. There really needs to be consistency.”

Tax sheet: “It’s good to have greater clarity on public expenditure but I doubt it will teach us anything new. I fear some may use it to unfairly target vulnerable groups.”

Spyro van Leemnen, 28

PR and Occupy organiser, Hackney

Earning just over his age, Spyro will take him £172 more as a result of personal allowance changes. His smoking (an average of eight cigarettes a day) and moderate drinking will cost him £56 more next year.

50p: “It is difficult to think of a more controversial move than a tax cut for the one per cent at a time of austerity when real incomes are plummeting and income inequality in the UK is now higher than at any time in the past 30 years. How about clamping down on tax loopholes and tax havens, currently available to the rich, instead of cutting their taxes?”

Tax sheet: “For it to be useful it needs to be complete and detailed. For example I want to know the percentage of my tax used to pay for the banks’ bailout, the Olympics and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If this information is not included then the tax breakdown is just another trick for turning taxpayers against vital public expenditure such as health, education and welfare.”

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