Sheriar Bradbury: What the PBR missed

For starters, has Darling thought about the implications of raising National Insurance (NI) contributions for those businesses that are already stretched? The third most -used word in Darling's PBR speech was ‘tax' and this is exactly what the increase in NI contributions will be; a stealth tax on Middle England as those on £20,000 a year or less have been specifically excluded. From April 2011 employer and employee rates will all rise by 1% - the 0.5% increase announced in the last Budget coupled with the 0.5% announced in the PBR. This increase will undoubtedly add to the burden ...