Do they think we are stupid?

Well it's the 6th March 2024 and in a few hours we will find out what the Chancellor has in store for us.  It seems that much of the budget has already been leaked. 2p off National Insurance is the headline. This follows a 2p reduction in employee National Insurance last year which took effect in February this year. So what is National Insurance?  Well the question should be "what is it supposed to be?". Originally it was intended to be funding for State Pension. In other words our National Insurance contributions would be paid back to us in old age.  Apparently we are all living longer and with an ageing population the burden of more non economically productive Old Age Pensioners surely should mean we should be saving more for old age - not less? Well not according to the Chancellor.   The problem really is that successive Governments have treated National Insurance as general taxation.  In other words the basic rate of tax is not 20% but currently 30%. an...

From the 1st April 2024, the UK minimum wage will increase from £10.42 to £11.44 - a massive 9.8% increase - far in excess of current inflation circa 4%. I accept it is hard to live on the minimum wage however this increase is inflationary. It also means the Government doesnt have to stump the cash - employers do. So lets look at the numbers and why the government wants to increase the minimum wage by so much - the answer is tax revenues of course.... How many people are on minimum wage in the UK? The Low Pay Commission estimates there are about 1.6 million people on minimum wage. Although they have not provided any data, they suggest workers typically work 24 -30 hours per week. Workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks statutory paid holiday per year (28 days).  This is pro rata for part-time work. So let's work out an example.  Let's assume someone works 24 hours (3 days) per week and they work for 1 year. In one year they will have 156 paid days and actually work 139.2 days. ...