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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

The right hon. Gentleman is right to paint some positive pictures. I am sure that those who are able to access the sources of funds to which he referred will be pleased so to do. However, my postbag is still heavy with correspondence from people who have problems with tax credits. Those people will still face an uphill struggle to ensure that they get that money, and when they review it against the rising costs of the basics in their living standards, they may well find that it is a case of giving with one hand and taking with the other. Those who are lucky enough to see themselves on a rising trend of income will immediately discover that fiscal drag is an issue that has not been addressed in this Budget. Many lower-paid workers will come into the tax bracket before they should, while those who are a little further up the income scale will find themselves paying the higher rate of tax when they might have hoped for some salvation from that. Fiscal drag is again being used by the Treasury to maintain income going into its coffers. The elderly, whom the right hon. Gentleman did not mention, and who might rejoice at the thought of another £50 on the winter fuel allowance, had better be warned that the Red Book tells us that that money is there only for one year—so that is, I suppose, this Budget’s special offer. The Chancellor made a lot of reducing corporate taxation in terms of reducing the basic rate of corporation tax from 30 per cent. to 28 per cent. However, he forgot to remind the House that capital allowances are simultaneously being reduced. When those numbers are netted off, we find from the Red Book that there is a £100 million increase in income to the Treasury. By all means let us talk about competitive tax rates, which I welcome, but let us talk about the complete picture: business as a whole will pay more taxes.