Budget 2010 'provides some welcome news for Britons'

Wednesday, June 23rd 2010

Although the latest Budget will hit people in the pocket, the changes to income tax are welcome, says the TaxPayers' Alliance.

The chancellor used yesterday's emergency financial plan to raise the threshold at which people will start paying tax on their earnings by £1,000 to £7,475 from April 2011.

It is thought this will benefit 23 million workers in the UK and will mean 880,000 people could pay no tax at all.

Mark Wallace, campaign director at the organisation, says: "Millions of people will be pleased to see the income tax threshold rising, which is a dose of long overdue contentment."

While Mr Wallace welcomes the change, he suggests the Budget as a whole will put unfair pressure on those in the weakest financial situations.

In order to fund the raising of the threshold and subsequent increase in personal allowance, the government intends to freeze the basic rate limit on income tax in 2013-2014.