Fairer taxation, support for families, investment: A great foundation for a new Labour term

By Zoe Gannon

Today’s budget will almost certainly have achieved its aim. With measures like cracking down on tax avoidance (albeit not as much as we would have liked) and increasing child tax credits and winter fuel payments there are lots of initiatives which will have pleased many voters, supported recovery and succeeded in not panicking the City…too much.

There is a lot we should welcome in this budget – measures which will go some way to addressing issues like our unfair tax system and supporting small businesses.

Compass particularly welcomes:

* The removal of tax allowances for those earning over £100,000.

* The freezing of inheritance tax.

* The clampdown on tax avoidance, – forecast to raise £500 million

* Th winter fuel allowance for pensioners extended for a further year.

* The Green Investment Bank

* The £4 rise in child tax credit for parents with young children from 2012

* The increase in stamp duty to 5% for £1 million properties.

There is always going to be more a chancellor can do and this close to an election, with the economy in the state it is in, this was never going to be an easy task.

The themes of building a fairer tax system, supporting families, and not cutting spending too soon were the right ones. If these are built on in the manifesto this will be an excellent springboard for a fourth term built on the principles of fairness.