Money concerns and views on future tax as city reacts to budget

“The worry I have is what’s coming in the future and am I going to be worse off then for the decisions made now?”

Suzanne Gibbon said the budget should focus on the hardships poorer families were facing

People visiting Wolverhampton city centre have reacted to the budget announcement by the chancellor Rishi Sunak with a mixture of concern, suspicion and begrudging acceptance.

The budget, which was announced in Parliament on Wednesday, set out the government’s tax and spending plans for the year ahead, with new measures announced to help business and jobs through the pandemic.

It also looked to support the UK’s long-term economic recovery and a series of tax-raising plans to help rebalance the public finances were also announced.

Key points from the chancellor’s announcement included the continuation of the furlough scheme until September, a rise in the minimum wage, tax-free personal allowance to be frozen at £12,570 and a freeze on duty for alcohol and fuel.

For Suzanne Gibbon from Bradmore, the budget announcement was one she viewed with suspicion because of the freeze in the income tax threshold.

She said: “I’ve looked at the budget and the main concern to me is there appears to be a bit of a stealth tax because the income tax threshold hasn’t been increased.

“They’re talking about increasing salaries, so I think a lot of people haven’t realised that that will impact on their income, plus there doesn’t seem to be a lot of support for self-employed people.

“That includes people who are paying themselves dividends, so that’s limited companies and three million people who’ve been left behind, so I don’t think that’s been addressed that particularly well.

“What they need to be doing is focus on the hardships that poor people are suffering from and do something to help pass money onto low income families to help with food and other costs.”

Dave McCall from Goldthorn Park is one of the self-employed people that Mrs Gibbon was talking about, working as a shop fitter.

Dave and Jane McCall in Wolverhampton city centre. Mr McCall said he wanted to see what the effect of the budget would be to self-employed workers such as himself

The 60-year-old, who was shopping with his wife Jane, said he was waiting to see what the impact of the budget would be once the shops reopened.

He said: “I’ll need to see what the impact is in terms of whether they start investing money in having the shops fitted out, because that means I’ll get more work.

“I think what was announced was a starter as he can’t really do anything as he can’t really cut taxes and he can’t put them up much as he’ll get criticised if he does either.

“I think we’ll get a boom as people will have a massive amount of money they’ve been saving and they’ll want to go out and spend it, plus the shops will want to invest it as well, so there’ll be a knock on for us.”

For Keith Bate from Pennfields, the budget felt more like a holding budget, rather than a progressive one, and he said he felt poorer people would feel the pinch going forward.

Keith Bate said the budget felt like a holding one

The 65-year-old said: “I think it’s a very bland budget and more like a holding one, as he’s provided limited help to certain businesses, raising corporation tax, freezing benefits and raising the tax allowance.

“I expected a lot of it to be honest, but I’m still confused about the furlough scheme being extended to September, although that’s more to do with everything supposed to back to normal by June, so it seems a bit odd to me.

“I’m getting my state pension this year and I’ve worked out I’ll actually be paying tax because of the amount being frozen and I really do think the poorest people will be worse off because of this.”

Glenford Russell from Wednesfield said it was a tough position for the chancellor to be in in terms of doing the budget, but said it would have consequences for people going forwards.

Glenford Russell said he understood why the chancellor had done the budget the way he had, but said it had future consequences for a lot of people

The 49-year-old said: “I think he’s in a tough spot and is trying to do the right thing, but at the same time, it’s a broad varying circumstance that you find he’s helping you now, but you’ll pay for it later.

“There’s a famous saying that goes ‘the rent is always due and it will be coming at some point’ and that’s going to happen through tax increases in the future.

“It’s going to hurt people and people are going to be angry and I can see what he’s trying to do to help the country, but it’s really going to affect working class families.”

Michael Hickinbottom from Dudley said it was a budget that was a start for getting the country back up and running.

Michael Hickinbottom said he though the budget was fair enough, but understood it would take a long time to get the economy back up and running

The 77-year-old said: “I think it’s a fair enough budget as he’s trying to get the money back in every way he can, but it will take a long time to get the funding back up.

“It’s a good thing that the furlough scheme is running until September as it will allow businesses to get back on their feet and get the economy going again.”