Why Would the Govt. Screw the Self Employed?

Boring days of tax, annual budgets, Government manifestos, hard to stay awake for many. But then the headline appears that the Government has decided to increase taxes on self-employed workers. What they refer to as the ‘man in the van’ but is much more than that.

The chancellor said an increase of class 4 NI contributions by 1 percent to 10% in April 2018, rising again to 11% in 2019. A 2% increase for the self-employed in NI payments isn’t small beer. The rate rise on NI also conflicts with the Govt’s 2015 manifesto, where they promised “not increase the rates of VAT, income tax or national insurance in the next parliament”.

Commentators are saying of a bland budget that the self-employed were the “biggest losers” of the chancellor’s financial statement.

As the nation moves towards a hard, soft or amazing Brexit, with turbulence continuing to trouble anyone’s finances, why would the Government chose this time to screw the people who work harder than anyone?

Iain Dale went, himself a self-employed businessman, went on a crusade today claiming “This is really penalising people who are self-employed, right through the scales…you can be a plumber, you can be a white van man. I always thought the Conservative Party was the party of small business, I thought they were the party of entrepreneurs. Clearly I was wrong on this particular one.”

YOU’VE BEEN HAMM-ERED cried the Sun with ‘Philip Hammond ignores Tory tax promise with £145m National Insurance raid on small business as he insists ‘resilient’ economy is Brexit-ready in first Budget as Chancellor’ followed by ‘Phil your boots! Hammond flouts Tory manifesto as he launches brazen tax raid on MILLIONS of self-employed workers and savers to pump £2bn into social care and education in pre-Brexit Budget’

Let’s just say it didn’t go down well. We are still wondering why would the Government screw the self-employed? Any ideas?

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