On Wednesday George Osborne announces his budget: what measures would you like to see in it? Share your ideas in our open thread
George Osborne delivers his fourth budget on Wednesday. With the economy flatlining, he is under pressure to move away from his austerity mantra, or at least announce some fresh measures to stimulate growth. Advice on how best to reinvigorate the economy has been wide-ranging, with suggestions coming from across the political spectrum.
Guardian readers have been offering their own ideas:
Cutting N.I. on new employees seems for three years like a good idea, how about cutting VAT too? We need money in the pockets of ordinary people, without that businesses will see little reason to invest. Cut VAT, or even have a VAT holiday, we need to give people back the confidence to spend and invest.
wjk7:
We should invest in affordable housing-built on brown field and derelict sites,stop land banking.introduce a living wage and rent controls,enforce a Robin Hood tax,crack down on tax avoidance and evasion and have a rethink on the mass privatisation of what remains of our public services.
When the private sector isn't providing demand, the public sector has to step in. Otherwise no demand and no growth (here, no recovery).
What's needed is a plan which requires spending but which can be, rightly, sold as investment, something likely to bring reward. I'd prefer that it be in education, rather than (say) airports, because there are schools all over the country such that spending should have to be geographically distributed and broadly in proportion to the population in each area, as schools are.
What would you like to see in the budget? Would you like to see tax cuts or giveaways, added investment in infrastructure projects, or something else entirely? Share your suggestions in the comments section below.