Will there be a spring budget?
A Spring Budget looks likely to take place on 23 March 2022 to address a triple whammy of inflation soaring to a 10-year high, fiscal drag from frozen tax allowances and National Insurance increases from April.
With local elections taking place in May 2022, when the impact will be first felt of the 1.25% NIC rise, frozen income tax thresholds and higher fuel bills, and maybe a further rise in interest rates, will the Chancellor seek to reduce the impact of these costs on families and businesses?
Just before Christmas, the Chancellor asked the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to produce an economic and fiscal forecast for Wednesday 23 March 2022.
Such a forecast is often required to accompany a fiscal statement or Budget, thus it looks likely that one or the other will happen on 23 March.
In 2021 we had Budgets in the Spring and the Autumn, so it is possible that with the ongoing economic uncertainty as well as rising costs the Chancellor will wish to tweak taxation measures in March 2022 and then maybe make more substantial changes in October/November.
