UK government borrowing was lower than expected in July, following a rise in tax and National Insurance receipts.Borrowing – the difference between public spending and tax income – was £1.1bn in July, which was £2.3bn less than the same month last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.It was the lowest July figure for three years, the ONS said, and was helped by a rise in self-assessed income tax payments.Despite the lower-than-expected figure, analysts said the chancellor was still likely to have to raise taxes in the autumn Budget to meet her tax and spending rules.Borrowing over the first four months of the financial year has now reached £60bn, the ONS said, which is up £6.7bn from the same period last year.That total for the year so far is in line with what the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the official independent forecaster, had predicted in March.July saw income tax receipts rise by £4.5bn, the ONS said, and there was also an increase from National Insurance (NI) contributions. The rate of employers’ NI contributions was increased by the government in April.Despite the better-than-expected figures for July, Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, told the BBC’s Today programme they did not change the “predicament” Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces over what she will do in the Budget, adding that it felt like tax rises were “inevitable”.”We think she’s on track to miss her fiscal rule by something like £17bn, …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnUK government borrowing was lower than expected in July, following a rise in tax and National Insurance receipts.Borrowing – the difference between public spending and tax income – was £1.1bn in July, which was £2.3bn less than the same month last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.It was the lowest July figure for three years, the ONS said, and was helped by a rise in self-assessed income tax payments.Despite the lower-than-expected figure, analysts said the chancellor was still likely to have to raise taxes in the autumn Budget to meet her tax and spending rules.Borrowing over the first four months of the financial year has now reached £60bn, the ONS said, which is up £6.7bn from the same period last year.That total for the year so far is in line with what the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the official independent forecaster, had predicted in March.July saw income tax receipts rise by £4.5bn, the ONS said, and there was also an increase from National Insurance (NI) contributions. The rate of employers’ NI contributions was increased by the government in April.Despite the better-than-expected figures for July, Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, told the BBC’s Today programme they did not change the “predicament” Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces over what she will do in the Budget, adding that it felt like tax rises were “inevitable”.”We think she’s on track to miss her fiscal rule by something like £17bn, …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
