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In one sentence

Nick Robinson | 11:53 UK time, Wednesday, 12 March 2008

What you'll see is what you'll get. That's the message coming from the Treasury this morning. They insist that even after the experts have thumbed through the Red Book of figures and forecasts and got their calculators out they will not find a hidden tax rise. So what can you expect from the man who has no money to give away and dare not raise much in taxes?

I'll try to sum it up in a sentence : Booze and gas guzzlers pay to cut child and fuel poverty.

Comments

  • 1.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Richard wrote:

Perhaps they could lower people's tax burden by removing the television tax...

  • 2.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Charles E Hardwidge wrote:
I'll try to sum it up in a sentence : Booze and gas guzzlers pay to cut child and fuel poverty.

I'll try to sum it up in one word: genius.

  • 3.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Richard wrote:

Perhaps they could lower people's tax burden by removing the television tax...

  • 4.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Stephen Newton wrote:

I think the two most important things to come out of the panto this afternoon is how "Killer" Cable and George Osborne do. Hopefully they will point to some bolder alternatives. Especially important in the case of the Lib Dems - just watching PMQ's and Nick Clegg has to be a goner. He seems so limp and impotent when he stands up.

  • 5.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Pig Man Pig wrote:

I'll sum it up in four words: Same old same old!

  • 6.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Peter wrote:

Come on Nick! When did we last have a Budget where we knew, immediately, what the effects would be? Gordon Brown has a rich history of concealing nasty news on such occasions, and any Darling Budget will have his boss' sticky fingers all over it.

  • 7.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Robin wrote:

The Budget will be announced by a man who left our transport infrastructure ill equipped to cope with the demands of the twenty first century yet was described repeatedly as a 'safe pair of hands'.

If we are now to describe this kind of mediocrity and inadequacy as a 'safe pair of hands' and 'genius' then we have descended to a level of complacent docility which even I thought unimaginable.

Lowered standards in schools, inability to act on a failing bank, lost documentation, rising not falling child poverty; more and more this government looks like it is running the country by lowest common denominator politics.

Are we all to sink to this level and say nothing? I don't think so.

  • 8.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Richard Tweddle wrote:

Raising taxes on alcohol will not stop binge drinking by the under 18s.

People who live in the real world know that youngsters buy cheap drink from criminal individuals who sell cheap larger from "booze cruzes" from thier home.

If the will is there, this can easily be stooped.

Unfortunately raising taxes and squeezing the pips of people like me (2 kids, mortgaged home, running a car with a joint income of 45K per year is their priority.

  • 9.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Tony wrote:

'no money to give away?' eh ?

Just a couple of observations

a) its not his ! - its ours and anything he spends comes from you and me. So we ain't got it - he can't spend it ...
b) I thought that the 'plan' was to save a bit in the good times to see us through the bad times. Now this feels a bit like bad times so shouldn't he have reserves built up during the good times to soften the crunch and get away from boom and bust cycles - or was that just anothe initiative not carried through?

  • 10.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • wrote:

A 7 word review - "No real changes before the next election".

  • 11.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Adam wrote:

I hope you're keeping count of the number of times he's used the word "stability". Only 9 minutes into the speech and I've already lost count.

  • 12.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Richard Tweddle wrote:

Ed Balls comments of "so what" in response to D Cameron's comment regarding the uk having the highest task burden ever speaks volumes of the contept in which this government has for the tax payer.

Ed Balls may just have lost labour the next election

  • 13.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Richard wrote:

I agree with Peter, any budget in this parliament will have Gordons sticky fingers all over it.

When things don't go to plan this time, I will be interested to see how far back in time Alister Dear will go to proclaim a success......maybe, "it used to be worse under Ted Heath" or possibly "Oliver Cromwell"!

  • 14.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Martin wrote:

Nick you always criticise the Government and like to out think them? Why then in interviews do you suck up? Ask hard questions. We taxpayers deserve better than journalists treating politicians like snobs. At the end of the day we are all the same.

  • 15.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • sarah wrote:

Why has everyone forgotten the abolition of the 10% tax band? This means that thousands of low-paid or part-time workers (mainly women)will be paying much more tax from next month, regardless of the 2% cut in basic rate. Why has this not been highlighted by the press? It's no use introducing more measures around benefits if your take-home pay is affected like it will be. I have read that everyone earning under £18,000 will end up worse off under this new rule: this government gives with one hand and takes with another, unless you are big business, in which case it gives, gives and gives.

  • 16.
  • At on 12 Mar 2008,
  • Eian Allardice wrote:

Once again we get taxed to death. we are not all polatician parasites who can set our own wages. and dont haver to worry about petrol or drink rises as we can claim them back with interest.

When are the public going to learn that with this goverment it is not worth while working.

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