Budget 2012 at a glance: George Osborne’s key points
This is the best and most accessible source I have found on the new budget. When you strip off the “punch and judy” political too-ing and fro-ing and taking account of the multiple leaks in advance of the budget, what new things remain which affect rural communities?
The big deal from a tax point of view is the removal of age related allowances for pensioners, which will impact disproportionately because of our skewed demography. The consultation on simplifying the tax system for small businesses and the consideration of enterprise loans to help young people start their own businesses could both be important to some of the distinctive economic challenges faced by small firms and rural youth in England.
The decision to press ahead with a significant rise in fuel duty will undoubtedly be bad news in terms of rural transport costs and fuel poverty. The extra funding to help bring forward new homes is a very positive development although there may be challenges in terms of how much of that filters into the rural affordable housing agenda.
I suspect there is a lot more to discuss yet but the proposed move to regional public sector pay could hit those places with relatively few well paid jobs outside of the public sector – with particular pinch points in this context in rural parts of the South West, North East and West and Midlands.
There are always some quirky things in budgets and I wonder what both the positive and negative impacts of the removal of the VAT exemption on static caravans will be?
With its promise of a possible new approach to environmental taxation, reporting on the future of aviation in the south east and the publication of research on public sector pay, I think this budget, which the commentators say in big picture terms is broadly neutral, is more about setting a direction of travel with implications for rural communities than any distinctive “big ticket” distinctive rural impacts.