Struggling Sun readers are urging Jeremy Hunt to cut taxes in the Budget
HARD-WORKING Sun on Sunday readers are sending a message to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt today: “Give us a tax cut and put more pounds in our pockets.”
From a single mother to a white van driver and a café owner: readers are fighting for tax breaks in the budget on March 6 to provide respite for cash-strapped households.
Hunt is under pressure to cut national insurance again, extend a 5p cut in fuel duty and scrap up to 2p from basic income tax to help more than 30 million low-paid workers.
And businesses, including the hospitality industry, want a VAT cut to help them keep their doors open despite the huge costs.
Ministers said this month they wanted to reduce Britain’s tax burden, which is on track to reach its highest level since the Second World War.
But this week the government suffered a blow when it emerged that public finances were less healthy than predicted.
At £16.7 billion, January’s surplus – the difference between spending and tax revenue – was lower than economists expected, leading to fears of less room for tax cuts.
Here, a selection of Sun on Sunday readers call on the Chancellor to cut taxes.
FAMILY OF FIVE
Gemma and Stephen Keough
MARRIED Gemma and Stephen live in Manchester with their children Brianna, 13, Kenneth, ten, and seven-year-old Kayden – but without tax cuts they say they are living in poverty despite their work.
Gemma runs a modeling agency, while Stephen is a white man with his own property maintenance company.
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They are both 36.
Gemma said: “After tax, national insurance and VAT payments we are living on £33,000 a year. We are the lower income earners who are constantly being asked to pay more taxes and we will end up receiving benefits if this continues.
“We rely on every money-saving tip we can. Families like ours are forgotten by Jeremy Hunt. We are the families who pay more in every budget, while the rich get tax breaks.”
Stephen wants the basic income tax threshold to be raised to keep more workers from receiving benefits.
He said: “It’s the few extra pounds we all need. Tax breaks will keep us just above the poverty line. We are desperate.”
He also wants fuel taxes reduced as he cannot pass on petrol costs to customers as they cannot afford to pay more either.
And he thinks the two percentage point drop in national insurance contributions in January was not enough. He says: “If it were to drop a little further, we could start saving for a house.”
He believes that stamp duty should also be abolished and that VAT needs a radical overhaul before it cripples more businesses.
Stephen said: “I’m currently just working to pay VAT and tax.
“Mr Hunt must understand that raising VAT and not providing tax breaks means our family’s income is actually falling and will never rise.”
pub landlord
Gareth Redhead
After taking over the Saracens Head in rural Halsall, Lancs, last year, Gareth has discovered that after beer duty, VAT, rising energy costs and staff wages, he is left with just 12p per pint sold.
He is now one of the café and restaurant owners who are calling for a reduction in VAT from 20 to 10 percent for the catering industry.
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Gareth, 36, said: “The incredible tax costs in this country are putting businesses like ours at risk. Hunt must reduce VAT to ten percent to prevent even more companies from closing their doors.”
Gareth and partner Lynsey, 42, who have daughters aged eight and 11 from a previous relationship, closed the doors of another business, a village restaurant, on December 31.
“The costs were just too high,” said Gareth. The couple already charge lower brewery rates for their draft beers, at £4.20 and £5.80 per pint.
Gareth said: “Our customers include farmers. If we increase costs, we run a great risk of pricing them out of the pub.
“Beer excise duties and VAT mean that we pay three to five percent more, but without tax benefits we cannot recoup anything.”
Gareth, who employs 16 full-time staff plus temporary workers, said he has seen the cost of running his business increase by 50 per cent since taking over.
He receives no wages.
He said: “We are a busy pub but we need the Government’s help if we are to go ahead and get all the money back out of our business that we can put back into the economy and employ local producers and workers. can keep a job. ”
SINGLE MOTHER
Michelle Bell
WIDOW Michelle, who recently started her own dog grooming business, says she is being hammered by taxes.
She is a single mother of two adult children with special needs and feels that people in her position are ‘ignored’.
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Michelle, 43 – whose son George, 23, and daughter Eleanor, 19, live at home – said: “As a single working parent I pay the hidden bachelor tax.
“My tax burden is much heavier than that of couples because I am the sole breadwinner for my household, but we are ignored.”
Michelle, who lives in Crawley, West Sussex, set up her business this year after giving up her 20-year career in social work and a £34,000 salary to find a better work-life balance.
She still does social work services, but she needs to earn £12,000 caring for dogs to make ends meet.
She said: “I need all the help I can get as a new start-up, but there is no small business grant I can get as a single parent starting out on my own. Tax breaks for companies like mine in the first, second year and in the start-up phase are crucial.”
Income tax changes can help her free up money to invest in her business and household.
She said: “I want to see National Insurance contributions reduced and PAYE tax reduced. I want the income tax threshold to be increased – this would help me invest in growing my business – and I need the right to claim single person tax.
“The government needs to reconsider that for families with adults with special needs, like mine.”
Michelle spends £700 a month on rent but would love to buy a house.
“Stamp duty stops that,” she said. “I was an essential worker, but there was no fiscal support for me. I have entered the business world, but I need tax relief and tax support.
“Fuel excise duties also need to be reconsidered. Work is eight miles from home and gas costs are another fear.”
PRONUNCIATION
By Paul Falvey, Tax Partner at BDO
WHILE Michelle and Stephen are calling for a cut in fuel duty, that seems unlikely as that is a cash cow for the Chancellor.
But an increase is also unlikely, because that would be inflationary.
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A VAT cut would help many, but again Hunt is likely to fear fueling inflation.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a beer tax cut for Gareth.
An increase in the national minimum wage of almost ten percent will come into effect from April.
This will benefit workers, but small businesses, such as pubs, will struggle to keep costs under control.
The Chancellor has said he will cut business rates for small hospitality businesses by up to 75 per cent by 2024, so he may feel he has done enough.
Young families may be happy to hear that Hunt wants to be seen as helping first-time buyers.
But this is more likely to come in the form of a new help-to-buy scheme than a cut in stamp duty.
The personal income tax allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since April 2021.
Raising this threshold is expensive for the Chancellor, because almost everyone benefits from it, so that is not likely this year either.