Gosling's Grouse: Thoughts on the Budget-lite

GOSLING'S GROUSE

Budget-lite or Budget 2, either way the idea of effectively having two budgets a year has become an essential part of the economy.

The Chancellor must have gone for at least 15 minutes before he succumbed to the now famous "we’re all in it together" refrain. Given the ongoing debate over who pays tax, it was inevitable he would focus heavily on this. Osborne is going to get £3bn from Swiss bank accounts over the next six years – something he first announced over a year ago. But he backed away from a ‘mansion tax’ because he could see the potential for a ‘poll tax’ moment for this administration. A mansion tax – an expression he did not use - would have meant a whole new rebanding for property values, not somet...