So, the chancellor stood up in Parliament on the 23 March 2022 but what were the main headline announcements?
He confirmed that the Healthcare Levy, being the increase in National Insurance by 1.25% see my blog 16/09/2021, was here to stay as it was important to continue to support the NHS. He did however make two changes to National Insurance being increasing the threshold at which you will start to pay National Insurance by increasing it to £12,570 from 6 July 2022, which is the same level as the personal allowance and increasing the employment allowance to £5,000, from £4,000, which allows eligible employers to reduce their National Insurance liability.
Other announcements were that fuel duty would be cut by 5% from midnight 23 March for a year and you will have already seen the impact of this with fuel prices having dropped overnight. Additionally, from April 2022 VAT on solar panels, heat pumps and other insulation is cut from 5% to 0%.
The chancellor also stated that he “aims to reduce and reform taxes with more detail to be announced in the Autumn statement” and that “by the end of this parliament, so during 2024, the basic rate of tax will be cut from 20% to 19%” – just in time for the general election…. no comment necessary !!
There was a lot muted about announcements to be made in the Autumn Budget and I will watch with interest what “Aims to reduce and reform taxes” will actually translate into to.
I feel that the Autumn Budget will definitely be one to watch !!!