How will the government’s tax proposal affect us?

KEITH Bell, a driver from Edinburgh, who earns roughly the average UK salary of around £27,000, said he did not see the £10,000 tax threshold proposal as a “cash bonanza”.

It is estimated the initiative would add £42 to a monthly pay packet.

Mr Bell is married with a 15-year-old daughter. His wife works part-time and they receive child benefit of just over £90 a month and a small amount of tax credit.

He said: “I don’t see it as me suddenly having an extra £42 in my pocket every month to spend. Raising the tax threshold to £10,000 would very likely have an impact on things like child tax credits, which would probably get knocked down. The same would probably happen to child care vouchers.

“On the face of it, seems a good deal. But I can’t see it being as great as it sounds, once you factor in National Insurance and tax.

“There needs to be a lot more information available for people like me to work out exactly what it means for us. As usual, the devil is in the detail. I would want to know if the £42 is purely on your threshold figure or calculated in another way.”

He added: “I’m sceptical about this, because my experience of successive governments is that they give with one hand and take away with another.

“It’s like a budget airline selling you a £6 ticket to Malaga, then hitting you with a load of charges for things like booking and food and drink.”

SHÂN ROSS