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BRITISH CHANCELLOR George Osborne has announced his 2012 Budget for the United Kingdom, including immediate cuts to the rate of corporation tax and a new tax credit on animation and video game companies.
Among the measures announced were increases to the personal income tax threshold and a cut to the top rate of income tax, as well as increases to stamp duty and a cap on the tax allowances claimed by top earners.
Corporation tax, which had stood at 26 per cent, has been cut by 1 per cent immediately, with a second 1 per cent cut taking effect in two weeks’ time. The rate will be further cut, to 22 per cent, by 2014.
Osborne’s third budget also includes a tax credit on profits from video game and animation companies – a move perhaps intended to entice companies which before now had located in the Republic of Ireland.
The headline news within the UK will be the abolition of the 50 per cent tax rate, however, which had been heavily anticipated and attacked by the Labour opposition as being a move to favour high-earning Conservative supporters.
Osborne told the House of Commons that cutting the rate – to 45 per cent – would only hit government income by around £100 million, with this cash made up by increasing other taxes such as stamp duty on high-value property, and a limit on tax credits for top earners.
Average-earning families were given some relief too, however, with the income threshold applied for child benefit being raised from £42,475 to £50,000, with incremental decreases in the rate up to £60,000 – a move which will mean child benefit being paid to 750,000 extra families.
The amount a person can earn before falling into the income tax net has increased from £8,105 to £9,205, with Osborne pledging to have this total raised to £10,000 by the end of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition’s tenure.
Excise on tobacco has been raised by 37p per packet of 20, effective from 6pm this evening. There were no added excises on fuel, though a 3p-per-litre increase is set for August.
Labour leader Ed Miliband, delivering his Commons speech in response, said the measures would mean “millions were paying more, while millionaires pay less”.
The budget for the Northern Ireland office – which in turn helps to fund the Executive in Stormont – will be maintained at around £9.5 billion for each of the next three years. The Budget also gives Northern Ireland the power to set its own air travel taxes.
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Eight years! I highly doubt a woman carrying out the same offence over here would even do eight months
@David Garland:
The courts would turn her into the victim. A suspended sentence and all the help she “deserves”. We have enormous sympathy for the criminally minded here. Britain has a bit of that too though. But not as pervasive.
@David Garland: Ah no she would
@David Garland: knew it was England from reading the headline. Realistically probably wouldnt even get 8mths here
Sick and weird 100%
Why aren’t women who engage in sexual assaults on minors referred to as peadophiles?
@Da Vid: Are they not? That’s what she is, though. Why wouldn’t they be? Sounds more like a sociopath though. Pretty shocked to read that she was 21. I thought at first they were all 16.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: in all the headlines regarding this woman, none called her a peadophile. If it were a male who carried out these assaults, well then..
People these days are truly messed up,
@Mick Hannigan: people have always been messed up.
@Mick Hannigan: what? All 7.6bn of us…..drama queen!
@Paul Furey: You would after all these years commenting so regularly on the Journal that you might have upped your game a little and become a little more articulate….but sadly no, it seems.
@Ger Healy: lol
Shocking , those poors girls. I hope they get plenty of support and counselling and are able to deal with this so they can form healthy relationships in the future.
@LittleBee: So much for #TrustWomen
@Daniel Dunne: what’s the connection here?
Why did they let a boy stay over with young girls for a couple of days ,I’d be thinking that would be a no no in the first place , that girl doesn’t look like she’s all there either ,
Her IQ was certainly high enough to convince her victims that she was a boy.
@joanne healy: having an iq has nothing to do with being a predator, manipulation has everything to do with being a predator
She looks nothing like a young teenage boy, she looks like the deranged woman she is with a baseball cap. How was she able to fool their parents? and why was she having sleepovers anyway? sorry im not victim blaming, its just so bizzare. Stuff of nightmares, really.
Lols
Call her what she is. A pedophile.
@Chris Keogan: well said
There was a similar case in the UK a few years ago, remember watching a documentary about it, it was a teenage girl dressing up as a lad and assaulting other teen girls. Sick on so many levels!
Wtf
Kids should only be friends with kids they have become friends with in school or sport or what ever camp etc they attend . The friends they play or talk to online should be real friends first not on line friends first . We all must pay closer attention to who they are playing with , it’s not easy but it’s our job.
Most sexual assault is committed by people known by the person. Parents, relatives, neighbours, friends etc. The concept of ‘stranger danger’ misses the point of actually educating young people on how to spot harmful behaviours/grooming and manipulation. Healthy relationship education as well as safe social media usage is extremely useful.
Meeting people online can be great because you can connect with people with similar interests and hobbies that you might not meet in real life first. I made great friends online (and in real life) as a teenager. But teaching about internet safety and ensuring any meeting happens safely is also important.
She is a pedophile.
Keep your children close
Girl who identifies as a man is a pedo. Gimp!
@Paddy O Rourke: woman who sexually assaults multiple children.
@Alan McArdle: sick twisted world we live in.
@Paddy O Rourke: there is nothing mentioned about her identifying as a man. Just that she dressed up as one as part of her manipulation.
Looks like Gollum with a cap.
In Ireland she wouldn’t even get jail
She is a peadophile! And in my opinion they should be shot. Waster of tax payers money and no use to society. If that’s too strong then put them all on an island somewhere together and they can molest each other.
@Irisheyes: she is on an island the only problem is it is to close to ours.
@Irisheyes: Seems just to me. Rockall?
@Shane Cormac O’Duibhleachain: lol yeah, a smaller uninhabited island if you want me to be more pacific
She must be very WOKE
have your say