How the UK budget will affect your money in six easy charts
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced ￡40bn in tax hikes in the autumn statement, with businesses paying for more than half.
In the first budget delivered by a female chancellor and the first Labour financial statement since 2010, Reeves said: “This is a moment of fundamental choice for Britain."
Here are six key charts that underpin the chancellor’s budget:
National insurance
The chancellor announced a hike on employers’ national insurance contributions, with higher rates and a lower starting threshold, raising ￡25.7bn by 2029-30.
Read more: Budget hikes taxes by ￡40bn as NI for employers and capital gains tax raised
The rate will increase by 1.2 percentage points to 15% from April 2025, with payments starting when an employee earns ￡5,000, down from the current ￡9,100.
Capital gains tax and stamp duty
The chancellor announced a ￡2.5bn increase in capital gains tax by increasing the lower rate from 10% to 18% and the higher rate from 20% to 24%.
Read more: Budget 2024: Rachel Reeves says she will raise taxes by ￡40bn
The stamp duty land tax surcharge for second homes will increase from 2% to 5% from Thursday.
Fuel duty freeze
There were rumours that fuel duty would rise by up to 7 pence-per-litre in the autumn budget, but Reeves confirmed that it’ll remain frozen for a further 12 months. The 5 pence-per-litre discount has also been extended for a year.
Fuel duty has been frozen at 57.95 pence per litre since 2011, and the 5 pence-per litre discount has been in place since 2022 bringing it down to 52.95 pence.
Read more: Which fuel duty changes were announced in the budget?
Alcohol
While alcohol duty rates on non-draught products will increase in line with RPI inflation, draught duty will be cut by 1.7%, knocking a penny off a pint in the pub.
Income tax
In a surprise move for a budget that is raising taxes by ￡40bn, the chancellor said there would be no extension on the freeze on income tax and national insurance. This means personal tax thresholds will be uprated in line with inflation from 2028-29.
Inflation
In the budget announcement, chancellor Reeves said the Office for Budget Responsibility expects inflation to remain above the Bank of England’s 2% target for several years.
The latest OBR forecasts indicate that inflation will rise to 2.6% in 2025 “partly due to the direct and indirect impact of the Budget” — significantly above the 1.5% rate previously predicted.
It also increased projections for the following three years, with inflation expected to hit 2.3% for 2026, 2.1% for 2027 and 2.1% for 2028.
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