According to the BBC’s budget calculator we’re going to be about £350 better off next year, assuming things stay the same. They wont, of course, and I don’t exactly put much faith in these off the cuff budget-o-matic things.
Skimming through what the 2008 budget has to offer and it’s clear, too, that Labour have only paid lip service to the environment. It’s been well documented that the aviation industry gets massive tax breaks on fuel, while the railway industry takes a hit, and I had hoped that something might be done to level the playing field. Not so.
The car tax changes are a cop-out, too. Why not hammer the gas guzzlers with road tax hikes?, rather than the poxy £950 “showroom tax” that’ll most likely be absorbed by dealer discounts or cash back incentives.
Environmentally, it looks like they bottled it – either that or they’re saving their big (false) green promises for election year. Change, as ever, happens at glacial pace.
