Osborne said to face £20bn black hole in Budget

[Martin@AS Financial]

According to the report:

"The Chancellor of the Exchequer could now face a difficult challenge to cut back on spending - having already reduced welfare allowances sharply - and may have to announce spending cuts or tax rises to tackle the overspend".




Osborne said to face £20bn black hole in Budget

[Platypus]

may have to announce spending cuts or tax rises

We'll see, but I expect tax cuts.

[administrator]

Could be an interesting budget this year:
Osborne told what to include in Budget 2014 :: Contractor UK

Lots of changes rumoured to be coming in.

[MicrosoftBob]

We're an easy target, so I can't imagine any good news

[Flashman]

Osborne has to try and find a way through to the 2015 General Election without admitting how bad things really are.

So expect some token tax cuts in the budget to please the Daily Mail crowd. The rest will just be borrowed.

[MicrosoftBob]

Osborne has to try and find a way through to the 2015 General Election without admitting how bad things really are.

So expect some token tax cuts in the budget to please the Daily Mail crowd. The rest will just be borrowed.

Couldn't he just print more money, then have huge tax cuts to bribe the electorate and then when Labour get in they'll be stuck with the mess

[Flashman]

Couldn't he just print more money, then have huge tax cuts to bribe the electorate and then when Labour get in they'll be stuck with the mess

heh well Osborne's done a good job there already. Create a fake housing boom. Tick. Double the National Debt. Tick. Ramp up Government spending. Tick.

2015 will be a great election to lose!

[Zero Liability]

We're an easy target, so I can't imagine any good news

I doubt it. I think the low-hanging fruit in this instance are the MNCs. Bear in mind that even on HMRC's most ridiculous estimates of how much IR35 'protects', it's something like £500m p.a. Direct yields to date are £10m IIRC, with an average cost of £700k p.a. Of course they could scrap IR35 and find other ways to tax contractors that are less inefficient but at not even 1% of the population, and with nowhere near as much income to plunder as MNCs and certainly not enough to cover a £20bn hole, I just don't see the benefit. It would be a case of scrounging for pennies.

[petergriffin]

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned the EU and unregulated immigration as the cause of the £20B hole.

[TestMangler]

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned the EU and unregulated immigration as the cause of the £20B hole.

I thought Scotland was to blame.