Budget #BBCAskThis BBC News Special

We have been asking you what you think of the Chancellor's eighth

budget. You have been getting in touch with your views and questions,

which we will seek to answer in just a moment, with two experts. First,

let's take a look at some of them. That was a very interesting budget.

Iser, youth and sugar. The sugar tax is probably a good thing. Doesn't

seem like much of a sweetener for me. Unrealistic. I would give him a

six. Four out of ten. To answer your questions, we have

our personal Finance correspondent, and our senior -- and a senior

personal finance reporter at the Telegraph. Lots of questions in

relation to savings and other issues as well. Before we answer the

questions, let's have a reminder of what the Chancellor announced in his

budget speech. From April next year, I will increase the Iser limit for

just over ?15,000, to ?20,000 a year for everyone. For those under 40,

many of whom have not had such a good deal from the pension system, I

am intra -- introducing a flexible way for the next generation to save.

Young people can put money in, get a government bonus, and use it to

either buy their first home or save for retirement. From April 2017,

under 40s will be able to open a lifetime ISA and save up to ?4000 a

year. For every ?4 you save, the government will give you ?1. Put in

?4000, and the government will give you ?1000 every year until you are

50. The government is giving you money to save for retirement and buy

a house. That is what the government had to say about saving. Let's start

with Chris via Twitter. How do tax-free Iser is -- ISAs help the

less wealthy, who may not be able to save? There was an interesting

spectrum of new saving products. There was something for the less

wealthy in the form of a help to save policy, where you can save up

to ?50 a month, and the government will give you a 50% bonus on top of

that. For people on a lower in coming, it is only available for

people on low incomes, on working tax credits, it is a good way of

boosting their emergency funds if they need to move house and need a

deposit to put down, or if they are in any kind of financial

difficulties at all. It may be good for voiding debt. That was designed

for people on a more modest income. But the tax-free Iser, -- ISA, you

have to have the money to put into it. The question is about people on

low income, are they better with the savings buffer, or do they have the

money to put into that kind of scheme, or would they be better

paying off debts? Connected to it, is there anything in the budget

which affects young people. Students in particular, somebody asks

anonymously. Students not very much, but young people enormously. This

lifetime ISA is completely new. The idea there is a top up for people

saving for their home or for a pension... They have a big decision

to make. They put that money aside in a lifetime ISA, or in a

traditional pension. If they haven't bought a home, they might think they

will put the money in for that, but clearly if you don't save early for

a pension, there may be problems down the line. As with all such

dilemmas, people should seek advice. If they can afford it, that is! Eric

via e-mail, white isn't it just people on low income and not

pensioners given 100% savings on ?50. For the more wealthy savers,

people who have several pounds a year to put into savings, the ISA

limit, the tax-free limit you can put into an ice every year, is

increasing. It is currently ?15,240 a year. That will benefit people who

are high earners who have a bit more to save. Very interesting today

about intergenerational furnace. It's been going on for a long time.

Are people who are pensioners better off? Are people who are in their 20s

essentially paying for a better life for their parents and grandparents?

It's a very big issue, and one where the debate will continue. Yes, which

generation has done better of late. Lots of ink were is about pensions

as well. Peter Ellis, via e-mail, asks, why has women's inequality not

been addressed in the pension statements, which is presumably a

reference to when the pension kicks in and at what age. Talking about

heated debates, this is one that's been going on recently. This idea

that there are women in their 60s having to wait longer for their

state pension. They say they were not aware of it, but the government

says there was plenty of warning. There was quite a lot of speculation

that something might be said in this budget, though the government has

stood its ground for quite a while. There was nothing in this budget on

that particular debate. I've already seen some reaction on social media

asking where it was. Connected to that, Julie writes, I'm a

62-year-old woman who has worked for 42 years. Why am I waiting until

November for my state pension? There was a lot of confusion around the

state pension. The pension age is now rising. The best way to check is

to go online to the government's calculator, to find out when your

state pension age is. There's a lot of confusion and some people are

having to wait longer than they thought before they get their state

pension. It's very difficult for some people who were not aware of

that. Kevin Dean crone writes this, when are we going to hear about the

release of pension pots for those already getting pension payments?

This is reference to the pension reforms we saw a year ago. So people

being able to access their pension savings. There was talk of going to

pay for them between and the like, but in this case, this was closed

for people who were already receiving their pensions. They were

already in receipt of the money they had saved up, and it turned into an

annuity. We had thought there would be more on that, but not in this

budget. There were lots of things on pensions that were not referred to

today. We understood for a long time that the government was planning a

major tax relief on pensions, which it back away from just last week. We

understood it was firmly in the firing line. There were various

plans on the table last week. We understood there was a big

government U-turn on that, for a number of reasons, including not

wanting to upset the middle-class voters, who currently benefit from

the pension tax relief they receive on their contributions. Nothing on

that, and no further changes to pensions this time in the budget.

There could've been a reduction in the annual and lifetime allowances.

We could see in future budgets possibly after the Brexit

referendum, possibly further changes to pensions then. A question about

disability issues, which is a significant political debate at the

moment. On this text message, what are the cuts to disability benefit?

As far as the text is concerned, the Chancellor wasn't clear. This is to

do with the debate on PIP, as it's known. Some people are saying it

will be a reduction in what they can claim. The government is saying that

he budget overall is going up. It is personal independence payment 's, a

points -based system that determines the benefits that people receive.

People who have disabilities. When we look at the numbers in the

budget, it looks as though the Chancellor is saving a lot of money

in this area, so the manner in which he is saving that money has led to

this very loud political debate in recent days. And a lack of clarity

in the minds of this correspondent. Yes, especially given that middle

and high earners are being given tax perks at -- as well. Now for

businesses. Some of the measures in this budget that were introduced by

the Chancellor. Let's look at his comments on some of his business

measures first. This is what he said about corporation tax. We are going

to reduce the rate of corporation tax even further, the rate that

written's buffet making companies have to pay. The evidence shows it

is one of the most distorted and unproductive taxes there is.

Corporation tax was 28% at the start of the last Parliament, and we

reduce it to 20% at the start of this one. It will now fall to 17%.

Britain is blazing a trail. Let the rest of the world catch up. There

were other measures with regards to business, which we were talking

about earlier. Simon asks, what has the Chancellor announced that will

benefit small businesses? I will leave that to you! It was a budget

that we have already heard from lots of small businesses that they are

cheering. There are 630,000 -- -- a large number of small businesses who

will not be paying corporation rates. There was a lot in here for

small businesses. The burden of that, quite a lot of that, is to do

with local government. Local government are bringing in these

taxes. Will it mean there is difficulty for these local

governments dealing with that shortfall? There's a whole array of

other topics people are asking about. Stephen asks, if class to

national insurance is abolished, how will the self-employed qualify for a

state pension? I love this one! This is the technical question that...

Yes. It was worrying when I first saw it, so I dug through the budget

documents. A delightful document that we read as journalists so

others don't have too. There is a change here, and aim to reform

another part of the national insurance system, that means you

will not miss out in building up for the state pension. Part of national

insurance is unable for you to build up and then receive the state

pension. Class two is going to be abolished, but there is a reform

elsewhere that means you will not miss out on a state pension. I'm

glad we sorted that out! Emma asks, what is the Chancellor doing for

single parents and public sector workers? There wasn't anything

specifically aimed at single parents, that there were things she

may be able to benefit from, such as a rise in the personal allowance,

which is the amount you can earn without paying tax, which is going

up to ?11,500. He helped to save schemes as well, the increased ice

allowances, all of these will help parents who are trying to build

financial security for their children and themselves. A lot of

public sector workers will talk about what is happening to their

pay. It is only going up I 1%. We had some forecasts today, which said

that inflation, which shows what the cost of living is going to be, it

was forecast to be below 1% next year. So a real term pay rise for

public sector workers, but the following one will be a real term

pay cut for public sector workers. About public sector pensions, the

cost of those will increase, but the government has promised that those

costs will not be passed onto workers, and their pensions will be

fully preserved. Let's break in with another burst of the Chancellor,

with reference to what he had to say about tobacco. I'm told we can't

bring you what he actually said about it, although we know it will

go up by a similar amount that -- as it has gone up of late. There's

always a similar amount in alcohol and tobacco taxes. Yes, a syntax!

Alcohol is going up above inflation. Beer is staying frozen, as is

whiskey, and wine is going up alongside inflation. Obviously,

there are a lot of people who would be in every one of those brackets,

and winners and losers at the same time. It makes a nice headline for

things like beer and whiskey not going up in price. And we can add

sugar to our sins now! There's going to be a bit of lead in time, but

there's been some suggestions that this tax on sugary drinks could be

passed on to shoppers, to consumers, and they could pay a bit more for

sugary drinks. Let's see what the Chancellor had to say specifically

on that issue. I'm not prepared to look back on my time in this

Parliament and say to my children's generation, I'm sorry, we knew there

was a problem with sugary drinks, we knew it caused disease, but we

ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing. Today I can announce

we will introduce a new sugar levy on the soft rinks industry. We had a

question about that. Kevin, you've gone there a bit, but Andrew says,

instead of legislating against them, why is he taxing sugary drinks and

passing the cost on to the consumer? The tax works pretty well for him,

financially, because he would like consumers not to be buying these

drinks, because further down the line, if people eat or drink more

sugar, they are more likely to have diabetes or become obese, which

presents a huge financial burden for the NHS. Billions of pounds a year

is spent on treating those conditions. He is trying to steer

consumers away from these drinks with these taxes. If they don't buy

them, he doesn't get the money. He doesn't, but he is not going to

spend it anywhere, because he has said he will spend it on school

sport in England. Other nations will be able to decide where they spend

the money. The Chancellor isn't saying he's doing it in order to get

some more to help cover that national credit card, he's saying

the money will go directly to schools sports, but just in England.

It does raise an interesting question in terms of the role of

taxation in this kind of area. Is it there to raise money or is it there

to change bad habits? It is controversial, because they few

pence added onto a can of Coke will not make a difference to a wealthy

person, but for someone with fewer means, it creates an inequality in

society, which is a controversial thing. As ever, we are on day one of

the budget. It often takes several days for us to get all the details

of it. It does. It is the joy of our job. We all get to look through the

detail! Thankfully, there's also some economic experts, and the

Institute for Fiscal Studies will be going through these numbers

overnight, and will give us their take on it tomorrow. Often, that

gives us a bit more indication of what's going on. There are things in

there where people will have to look at the detail, certainly things like

the lifetime I said, to see not just what is happening but how it is

implemented. -- the lifetime ISA. A final thought for those watching

this, trying to get a sense of what it will mean for them. There are a

lot of solutions for savings. There seems to be a saving solution for

everyone here to build security for the future. Some of those savings

schemes, we need to look into the detail and see what they mean. Over

the next few days, more stories around those will unfold. Thank you

both very much indeed for answering all those questions, especially the

one that you enjoyed as much as you did! Thank you both very much.

Now, time for a look at the weather.