It IS the Budget for Growth...next year

So it’s good news for 330,000 people and good news for 24 million people. But not until next year.
The point to bear in mind about both of these headline grabbing measures is that they won’t cost George Osborne a penny in 2012-13. So he’s effectively trailed next year’s Budget.
The 24 million are the people whose personal allowance will rise substantially next year, putting their tax-free income up to more than £9,200.
The 333,000 are those liable for the 50p top rate of income tax, which will be cut to 45p from April 2013. The line from the Treasury is that the 50p rate isn’t raising any worthwhile revenue, suggesting high earners are taking some income as dividends or not taking it as income at all.
So as I said last night, 45p looks like a more ‘optimimal’ rate – low enough to encourage payment, high enough to yield some decent tax revenue.
And it’s apparently bad news for Nottingham, which didn’t get the cash it hoped for from the Super Connected Cities initiative. It had asked for a comparatively modest sum (around £8m), to fund ultra-high speed broadband embedded in the tracks of the new tram lines.
I don’t think the game is over on that one, though – I suspect the City Council will try to secure the funding from other sources, so watch this space.
The burning question, of course, is whether the headline cut in Corporation tax – which goes down to 24% more or less immediately – will help businesses to put their hands in their pockets and invest.
There’ll be more insights later.