Martin Lewis reacts to Budget asking ‘who is going to pay for it?’ after cut to beer prices & minimum wage increases

MARTIN Lewis has reacted to Rachel Reeves’ Budget by asking “who is going to pay for it?”

The Chancellor used the first Labour Budget in almost 15 years to raise eye-watering sums from bosses, smokers and drinkers.

At its heart was a massive £25billion National Insurance raid on firms by raising the headline employer rate from 13.8 to 15 per cent.

At the same time, Reeves has slashed the threshold at which employers start making NI contributions.

But the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com asked how the businesses will pay for a £615 per employee surge.

He wrote on X: “The change of threshold so employers now start paying National Insurance at £5,000 not £9,100 is big.

The “trick and treat” Halloween package included:

• A freeze to fuel duty for a 15th consecutive year in a win for The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign
• A penny off a pint by cutting draught beer duty, but raising booze taxes on other drinks
• A gloomy forecast of sluggish growth in a blow to Labour’s flagship mission
• A stamp duty rise for second-home buyers of two percentage points
• A pay rise for millions as the minimum wage was increased by £1,400 a year
• A hike to a packet of cigarettes as smoking duties were raised
• A new tax on vapes ahead of the looming ban on disposable e-cigs
• Higher taxes on air passenger duty for private jets that hits the wealthy
• A benefits crackdown with Ms Reeves telling jobless Brits to “get back to work”
• An increase to the state pension of £473 next year through the triple lock
• An inheritance tax raid through freezing the rates people pay
• An increase to the Carer’s Allowance to give cash to 60,000 more carers

“For the employers who pay it, at the new 15 per cent rate that alone’s £615 increased cost per most employees per year.

“The question is where will that money come from, profits, increasing charges or reducing salaries/benefits?”

Lewis continued: “The reason I say ‘for employers who pay it’ is because the Employers Allowance for NI has been increased from £5,000 to £10,500 a year (so this is amount off employers NI bill) so small businesses won’t pay it.”

The controversial move comes after Labour’s party manifesto said it would not increase taxes on working people.

Employers currently pay National Insurance at a rate of 13.8 per cent on workers earning more than £175 a week or £9,100 a year – but this threshold is going to fall to £5,000.

The change is set to make pension salary sacrifice schemes more attractive to employers.

Under this arrangement, employees give up part of their salary in exchange for other benefits such as pension contributions which are not subject to tax or NICs.

So we could now see more companies offering increased perks for forgoing wages to try to avoid some of the extra burden from increased NICs.

Ms Reeves made history as the UK’s first female Chancellor when she delivered Wednesday’s Budget.

In her speech she said the “prize on offer” is “immense”.

She laid out new funding to cut hospital waiting lists, pave the way for more affordable homes and rebuild crumbling schools.

Ms Reeves added: “More pounds in people’s pockets. An NHS that is there when you need it.

“An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all.

“Because that is the only way to improve living standards.”

Harking back to the Labour governments of Attlee, Wilson and Blair, Ms Reeves said it is “not the first time that it has fallen to the Labour Party to rebuild Britain”.

The Chancellor warned that the tax hikes and borrowing increases she is considering may not be enough to undo “14 years of damage” to the NHS, despite plans to pump billions of pounds into the health service.