Digest opened free editor

Rola Khaleda, FT editor, chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

There were no tax changes in the spring statement, as expected, but any relief feeling should be reduced from our personal resources with caution. By the time when the autumn budget comes, I am afraid that the tax will rise significantly on the agenda.

The half of the UK’s economic growth forecast for this year of the budget responsibility office was a severe blow. Rashil Reeves’s verbal blame game has turned from “black holes” towards “global uncertainty”, but the classification was not related to Trump’s threatening definitions and more than that, an increase of 24 billion pounds to 24 billion pounds. National insurance contributions to employers.

The largest measure to increase taxes in the budget last October will not apply until next month, which means that the British economy has not yet felt the full power of influence. Certainly, he will increase unemployment and inflation, as companies reduce jobs and prices are placed for compensation, while OBR documents are estimated Three quarters of cost It will be transferred to the workers “across real real wages.”

This gave a hollow ring to the counselor’s comments on protecting workers from the impact of high income taxes, national insurance or value -added tax – good luck in negotiating the height of your next salary.

However, Reeves did a good job to look very excited about many very small numbers. The head hall in general against the financial rules is still small, and therefore the threat of the future tax increase remains.

Attempts to push growth through planning reforms, increased defense spending and relaxation may be the right thing to do, but nothing will not move the needle much, and the weaker job market means consumer confidence Really under pressure. OBR expectations that the average mortgage rates will remain high, as more borrowers compete for low era offers, not indicating that people will spend more, as home finance remains restricted.

However, a very large number – the cost of 105.2 billion pounds to serve interest on government debt full of this year, which is more than the budgets combined for defense, the internal Ministry and the Ministry of Justice combined.

This confirms how much the consultant is at the mercy of the markets. With a lot of domestic and global uncertainty about it – including the unknown effect of the global trade war – it will not take much costs to borrow to raise the level and convert small black numbers from OBR to larger red numbers.

So what can all this mean for our personal money? Although the counselor was keen not to breathe the whisper about the tax height on Wednesday, if the search for growth proves that it is not fruitful, it is difficult to see how it can avoid it. This risk the repetition of months of the harmful tax speculation that was seen in the period before the budget of last October, as investors tried to guess secondly as the advisor’s ax may decrease.

The most respectable tax experts in the country Urging the government To stop tampering and be brave enough to consider bold reforms to simplify the system Treating long -term problems In an attempt to enhance growth and productivity. I doubt that politicians will listen.

At the present time, feeling It is commonly expressed By FT readers is to continue to increase your tax allowances before the government reduces them. I am not amazed to see that investment platforms have been unusually high this year – phenomenon It is called “Reefs effect” – I expect the new tax year for the month of April to not be different.

Spring statement documents for the ISAS reform are still considered, with the desire to “obtain the right balance” between cash and stocks “to increase the culture of investment in retail” in the United Kingdom. However, the culture of fear relates to retailers and we are waiting to know the changes of the rules and the tax height that the October budget will bring.

Claer Barrett is a FT consumer editor and author of FT’s book Carm your financial life Newsletter series Claer.barrett@ft.com; Instagram and Tiktok Claerb