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CLAER BARRETT: So here's what the budget means for you and your money. This was a budget of immediate first aid measures. The chancellor unveiled a huge package of measures to support all parts of the workforce, including millions working in the gig economy, small businesses, and the self-employed.
The chancellor rolled out a huge boost to statutory sick pay and for those who were unable to claim it, much quicker access to benefits. Plus, help for small businesses in covering the costs and a range of other measures, including extra time to pay tax bills and emergency loans to help businesses see off the Corona crisis.
Now, it wouldn't be a budget without a tax giveaway. And the chancellor delivered today in the form of a tax cut for 31 million workers as the national insurance threshold is raised to 9,500 pounds from April. This, the chancellor said, would save the average worker 100 pounds a year.
Savings for children also received a big boost. From April, the amount that parents can save into a junior Isa has more than doubled to 9,000 pounds. And we can all drink to that because GC on all alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer, cider and spirits, has been frozen for a year.
And what about property? Well today, the only big change was an additional 2% rate of stamp GC people from overseas were buying a house in the UK. That's a move that could hit UK expats returning home. But the chancellor said the funds will be used to help combat homelessness.
And finally, what about what the chancellor didn't say? Rishi Sunak appears to have washed his hands of some of the tax raising measures that wealthy FT readers most feared, namely getting rid of higher rate pensions tax relief. In fact today, he made the pensions tax position much easier for thousands of higher earners in a bid to help NHS doctors who've been hit by higher tax bills.
So it looks like the government has decided now is not the time to frighten the party's core voters with talk of tax rises, but that doesn't mean they're officially off the table.