LONDON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves unveiled the 2025 Budget on Wednesday, outlining multiple key fields of public spending and taxation aimed at breaking Britain out of its cycle of decline through stability, investment and reform.
The Chancellor pledged that the government will neither return the country to austerity nor allow public spending and borrowing to spiral, while vowing to ease pressures on the cost of living.
According to a statement published on the British government's website, Reeves set out a wide range of proposals on public spending and taxation aimed at reducing borrowing and debt, safeguarding essential public services, stimulating economic growth, improving tax fairness and advancing welfare reforms.
She highlighted a series of measures targeting public priorities such as cutting the National Health Service waiting times, reducing energy bills and freezing rail fares, combating child poverty, supporting school libraries, boosting youth employment, increasing the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage, and accelerating home-building and infrastructure improvements.
At the same time, a number of tax-related measures were also announced. Those closely related to employees include freezing current personal tax thresholds from 2028 to 2031 to increase individual contributions, and capping the amount of money that can be put into pensions without paying National Insurance through a mechanism known as salary sacrifice.
To boost British business, Reeves vowed to support high streets with permanently lower tax rates for 750,000 retail and hospitality properties, and back entrepreneurs and fast-growing companies with tax breaks to encourage hiring and domestic listing.
Other proposed measures include a high-value council tax surcharge on expensive properties, a new per-mile levy on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, higher online gambling duties, and an extension of the temporary reduction in fuel duty.
The Chancellor delivered a Budget that brings UK taxes to an all-time high, the Financial Times reported, noting that Reeves increased taxes by 40 billion pounds (about 53 billion U.S. dollars) in her first budget last year and announced a further 26 billion pounds (34.5 billion dollars) rise on Wednesday.
It also noted that the current budget is expected to turn into a surplus by 2028-29, meeting the government's rule of matching day-to-day spending with revenues by the end of the decade.
The government's growth mission is currently stalled. While the Chancellor has succeeded in creating the fiscal headroom she needed, a scattergun approach to tax risks leaving the economy stuck in neutral, said Rain Newton-Smith, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry.
Shevaun Haviland, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the Chancellor made the right decision by avoiding major new tax rises for businesses, which will provide reassurance.
However, many businesses, still squeezed by rising costs, will be disappointed that the Budget did not offer a more compelling blueprint for transformational growth, Haviland added. Enditem
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