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Red-box day

by
22 March 2013

The Chancellor, George Osborne (right) headed to the House of Commons to deliver his "Budget for our aspiration nation". He said that it was a Budget for those who "have felt that the whole system was tilted against those who did the right thing: who worked, who saved, who aspired". From 2014, no income tax will be levied on the first £10,000 of a salary, and from 2015 some parents will be able to claim back up to £1200 a year for each child in childcare costs.

The chief executive of the Children's Society, Matthew Reed, said that children were "largely absent" from the Budget, which "gives little hope to struggling families already hit by sweeping cuts". Charities welcomed the news that the Government was still committed to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on international development. The director of Christian Aid, Loretta Minghella, said, however, that the Government had "missed an opportunity to use tax reform to help reduce developing countries' reliance on aid". The Chancellor could have required multinationals to reveal the tax-avoidance schemes they were using in the developing world.

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