BUSINESS owners, families and working Brits have given their verdict on Rachel Reeves' £40billion tax bomb budget.
The Chancellor yesterday used the first Labour Budget in almost 15 years to hike National Insurance contributions from businesses by 1.2 per cent - in a £25bn raid on firms.
The extra levy is the equivalent of £800 per employee, while investment firm AJ Bell said the cost of hiring a new staff member would rise by £2,300.
The first female Chancellor also announced a reduction to the threshold businesses start paying NICs from £9,100 to £5,000.
It raised fears that workers will bear the brunt of the increase and sparked accusations it breaches the party’s manifesto pledge not to raise taxes for working people.
The National Living Wage will also rise by more than six per cent - triple the rate of inflation - to £12.21 an hour for over-21s.
It means millions will get a huge pay boost, though some firms say the rise will push up costs.
Meanwhile, the NHS will get a huge £22billion investment in a bid to fast-track improvements and reduce record-high waiting lists.
Business owners, tradies, students and workers across the country have given their verdict on the measures, telling The Sun that higher tax rates could trigger a string of consequences for their lives.
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They include toolmaker Conrad Pearson, who warned Reeves' measures would cost him to cut someone from his five-strong toolmaking team.
He said: “As soon as this was announced one of my lads said I’d have to pay him more, otherwise unskilled and less experienced staff would be catching him up."
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PM Sir Keir Starmer’s dad was a toolmaker who ran his own firm.
But after yesterday's Budget, Conrad Pearson was left considering the future of his toolmaking business after 25 years of trading.
Conrad and his son Sam currently employ five workers, including one on minimum wage at their company Pearson Precision Toolmakers, which supplies the motor industry.
The increase in the minimum wage and business National Insurance contributions means he will have to lose one of his five staff at his 25-year-old company based in Hereford.
And he says it’s a kick in the teeth for the toolmaking industry where Keir Starmer says his father worked.
Conrad told The Sun: “If his father was a toolmaker he would know the effort and commitment she put in.
“It’s an absolute joke.
“The increase to the minimum wage means I will have to put all the wages up across the board.
“As soon as this was announced one of my lads said I’d have to pay him more, otherwise unskilled and less experienced staff would be catching him up.
“I will have to look at it but my idea is to invest in more computerised automation which can run through the night so I can lose someone.
“By doing that I will save on a wage and on my National Insurance contributions.”
The father-of-two said he knew it was coming and was prepared for the hit from Day One of Labour taking over.
He said: “I bought some land next to our factory with the idea of expanding but I don’t know if I’m going to do that now.
“We are a family business, my son and daughter both work here and like any father I want it to be theirs one day.
“But the increase in inheritance tax is making me think about the future for all of us.
“I feel very let down and betrayed by Labour who have broken so many of their election promises.
“Small businesses are going to suffer - there’s nothing for us at all in this Budget.
“The Chancellor has given 40 per cent business rate relief to the retail and leisure sector but what about us?
“Why weren’t we included?
“It is British manufacturing that’s going to create wealth in this country, not people selling ice cream and burgers.”
Conrad was thinking about taking on an apprentice but he is abandoning the idea.
He said: “There was no help in the budget for small businesses taking on apprentices but after the changes to NI and the minimum wage I’m left thinking: ‘Do I really need one?’”
Conrad is a non-smoker and only an occasional drinker but the lads on his factory floor will be hit by duty increases.
He said: “They’re all smokers, drinkers and vapers, so whatever increases they have in their wage packets will get swallowed up by that.”
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Nigel Owen, 47, works in banking, while his wife, Marianne, 49, is in recruitment.
Jointly they earn £180,000 a year.
The couple live with Marianne’s 17-year-old son in East Molesey, Surrey, where they have a £3,000-a-month mortgage.
They pay £250 a month to charge their Tesla electric car.
Nigel says: "I thought this government would be centrist, but I think it's perhaps the most left-wing budget we've seen in decades.”
On the Chancellor's £22bn NHS investment, he adds: “I want to believe that spending brings good things, but far too often, throwing money at things like the NHS and HS2, doesn't seem to be the answer.
“We need people really looking at the NHS. When you need treatment on the NHS, it’s excellent. My mother had breast cancer and she received incredible care.
“It’s not the people on the front line that are the problem - they should be paid more money.
"It’s the layers of management between them and the people at the top that slow the change and the updating of the whole system that is the problem.
“Sorry to be cynical, but I don’t think the extra money being thrown at the NHS will bring radical reforms.
“In the Budget, Labour seems to have drawn a line in the sand, ‘we’re a tax and spend government’.
“They said they're not going to tax working people, but they are piling the cost onto the companies who employ these working people.
"Hopefully they won't be letting people go, because it all ends up on the bottom line.”
“This country's growth could be really boosted by some of the fabulous entrepreneurs who don't necessarily become the next Zuckerberg or Musk but who will run successful businesses employing 10s or 100s of people, which all add up to vital jobs for the economy.”
On the penny off the cost of a pint in the pub, Nigel says: “So it sounds good for a landlord, but it's nothing compared to the increased minimum wage and NI costs they’ll have to pay out.
"Younger people have seen a double-digit increase and are now on £10 an hour.”
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NHS employee Olaniyi Alabi, 46, and his support worker wife, Jumoke, 40, live in a housing association home with their eight-year-old daughter, Oyindamola.
Olaniyi - a £28,000-a-year full-time hospital co-ordinator at Kings College Hospital, London - and his wife have seen their rent rise by over £200 a month to £1,414.
But they pay £300 a month for petrol so Olaniyi who is disabled can drive to work and Jumoke forks out £200 a month on train fares from her 23,000 a year salary.
Jumoko earns the Living Wage, which goes up by 6.7 per cent, which will bring in an extra £1,400 for full-time workers.
Olaniyi, says: “I don't think it will make a lot of difference. We have a lot of loans to pay so this is a patch-up job.
“The fuel duty freeze will help us though as I was expecting that to go up.”
On the NHS investment, Olaniyi says: “As both a disabled person and an NHS worker, the increase in the budget will help with the waiting times. I've been waiting for an operation for over a year now.
"Maybe with the increase in budget, that might speed up surgeries - fingers crossed.
He adds: “Our rent has been increased by nearly £220 per month. I’m amazed a housing association can charge us this much.
“But our salary hasn't gone up, so it’s just getting harder. We have to find somewhere to plug the hole. We may have to cut the food expenses again.”
"I hope the government really do build more houses to reduce the demand and keep rents down.”
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Dan Scarfe, 36, and wife Emma, 33, both work in care homes.
Emma is on the National Living Wage - earning £19,500, which is going up by six per cent – three times the rate of inflation thanks to Rachel Reeves’ Budget.
Dan does the night shift and earns £14,500. His company's pay rates are linked to the Living Wage.
The couple from Ipswich, Suffolk, do the shifts so they can look after their two young sons, Oliver, six and Luke, four.
On the minimum wage increase, Dan says: “My company always sits above the line of minimum wage, so they pay a bit above it. I hope this rise means they’ll continue to stay above it and our wages go up too.
“I think ours will go up, it’s normally around an extra 50p per hour for us.
“It's good. With the costs of everything else going up, we need to have wages increased, otherwise, it's going to get harder.
“It looks like Emma’s salary will going to go up as well. We could be up £3,000 per year, across both our salaries. That's a marked improvement over what it was.
“That could go towards other things that are increasing, so all in all it might keep us at a status quo with the rising bills.
“I’m glad that National Insurance hasn’t been increased for us so that’s a positive.
"At some point it will go up, but the longer it stays as it is, then this will feel like an increase.
“It won't mean an extra holiday, but it does mean we can continue to do our normal plans, so in that sense it is still a gain.”
On the fuel duty freeze, Dan says: “We only have the one car, but Emma has a decent drive to work. So it does make a difference filling up the car for a month.”
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MUM Megan Dancer, 30, is on maternity leave after having son Harley, now four months old.
She and husband Dan, 34, a £28,000-a-year machine operator, also have another son, two-year-old Louie.
Megan, from Bournemouth, who earns £23,290 as a health outreach worker, said: “Dan goes to Bristol every fortnight so fuel duty not going up by 7p a litre will make things a bit cheaper for us.
"NHS investment sounds good, but what will it actually mean for us?
“What we need is more beds. Our hospital’s beds are cut every year.
"We haven’t really been affected much by the Budget but we’re due to renegotiate our mortgage in January.
"This Budget might mean interest rates come down more slowly, which would be terrible for us. We need rates to come down fast.”
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WIDOW Ann Boucher, 79, retired in 2012 and receives the smaller old state pension of £553 a month after tax.
She receives £109 a month pension from BT, where she used to work, and £1,403 a month from her late husband’s employer Royal Mail.
Ann, of Braunton, Devon, has energy bills of £204 a month but missed out on the £300 annual Winter Fuel Allowance.
The mum of five says: “The Winter Fuel Allowance has been a big thing. If we get a harsh winter it will be tough for people.”
Ann, who will benefit from the 4.1 per cent state pension increase, is delighted The Sun persuaded the Chancellor to keep fuel duty frozen for a year.
She says: “The triple lock is also good but Labour is borrowing huge amounts.
"I worry about the debt we will leave to our children and grandchildren.”
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LANDLADY Ruth Seggie and her husband Andrew own the Howard Arms pub in Brampton, Cumbria, which has 22 staff.
Their employers’ National Insurance contribution will rise by 1.2 per cent.
They will also have to pay younger waiting staff, who are on the Living Wage, an extra 6.7 per cent – and give pay rises to skilled staff.
Ruth, 55, said: “It’s just like silly money. We’re just seeing profits shrink.
"It seems that the more we make, the more we get hammered for corporation tax, personal tax, VAT, National Insurance, everything.”
The 75 per cent rates reduction will drop to 40 per cent, costing another £7,000.
Ruth added: “I’m going to have to put the price of beer up to give my staff a 6.7 per cent rise in wages and cover extra NI payments. I bet by next April many businesses will have shut down.”
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LYNDSEY TATE, 42, who is mum to Georgia, 12, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety and PTSD.
She receives £1,600 a month Employment Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payment.
The Department of Work and Pensions took her PIP away but reinstated it on appeal and she now gets an extra £1.25 a week.
She said: “I’m going on the forced migration to Universal Credit. They’re reducing the amount they can take off you, for debt and overpayments, from 50 per cent to 25 per cent.
“They’re also extending the household support scheme, so that will be a bonus.” Lyndsey, of Kellington, North Yorks, spends £50 a month on cigs, which went up by two per cent above inflation.
She said: “It doesn’t matter how expensive it is, we will always have to find a way to pay for it.”
PLUMBER Billy Gunn employs eight staff at his growing heating engineering business.
His firm, Imperial Heating Services currently gives the government £19,000 a year in Employer’s National Insurance.
And after yesterday's Budget he will have to find an extra £3,556 after the employer’s NI which went up 1.2 per cent.
Billy, 33, also hires another eight heating engineers and technicians as sub-contractors because the construction industry too unpredictable to employ them full-time.
He says: “Unfortunately, I think what the government is going to do is end up pushing business people away from taking on extra employees.
“Because you’d be scared that the employer’s NI is going to go up again next year?
“We want to scale up our business but unfortunately we might have to go down the route where we can't take people on as employed.
“Instead, we would have to take them on as self-employed.
“Then you're running the risk of getting caught up in IR35, where you can't consistently work with subcontractors.”
The firm, based at Ingatestone, Essex, currently gives its staff a 10per cent profit share on top of their wages.
The company, which has three vans and two trucks, also spends around £1,500 a month on fuel.
Thanks to the Sun’s battle to keep down fuel duty the company will save more than £900 a year than if the Chancellor had brought in a 7p a litre rise in duty.
Father of three Billy started work as a plumber’s mate in the school holidays and started his own business after his apprenticeship.
He says: “I wish the Chancellor had corporation tax. I want to leave money in my business so I can invest and grow but I am taxed at 25per cent.”
