Yesterday, their fears came true as Rachel Reeves helped those on handouts by ending the two-child cap on benefits, worth thousands of pounds to families a year.
To pay for it, she froze tax thresholds for three more years, which will hit state pensions.
Tax expert Jim Lee works out how eight Sun readers’ finances fared – and they give us their verdicts.
HIGH EARNER
DIVORCED Kevin Lyons earns £100,000 a year as a global benefits manager at a tech firm and lives in a penthouse flat in Winchester, Hants.
The 61-year-old puts £6,000 a year into his pension under a salary sacrifice scheme – but now only £2,000 a year will be tax-free. Which means Kevin will pay an extra £2,460 a year in tax and National Insurance.
He is also £263 a year worse off because tax thresholds will be frozen until 2031. Kevin, who has two grown-up daughters, says: “The pension change takes effect from April 2029, so that gives companies the chance to look at what they’re doing for pensions.
“It might make companies think about what else we can do and it might lead to some pension reform.
“The Office for Budget Responsibility says the economy is going to finally start growing, but God have we been through some hard times.”
THE PUNTER
BETTING fan Stuart Roper-Browning likes a flutter on all sports, including football, horse racing and golf.
He has been backing The Sun’s Save Our Bets campaign, and like many punters he was relieved that the Chancellor did not increase taxes on racing or gaming machines in bookmakers’ shops.
It means thousands of bookies that were under threat will likely stay open.
But punters may not be able to get such good odds or offers on bets in future.
Stuart, 50, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, earns £18 an hour as an electrical improver and takes home £511 a week.
He will lose £67 a year due to the freeze on tax thresholds.
He says: “Well done to The Sun for sticking up for punters like me.
“I love my betting and I’d have been disgusted if Rachel Reeves killed off my hobby.”
THE FAMILY WITH 3 KIDS
CRYSTAL Rudd, husband Stephen and their three young children are among the big winners after Rachel Reeves ended the two-child cap on benefits.
Stephen, 27, earns £30,000 a year in food manufacturing while hospital volunteer Crystal, 31, is paid £85-a-week carer’s allowance so she can look after their three children who all have autism.
The family, from Fleet, Lincs, receive £631 a month in Universal Credit for two kids. But now they will get an extra £3,054 a year for their third child.
And they’ll get child benefit of £242 a month for Ethan, 11, Blaze, nine and now seven-year-old Poppy. But they lose £67 a year because Stephen’s tax threshold is frozen.
Crystal says: “We will be able to afford to eat out more and we can mix up our weekly food shop.
“But ending the cap might open the door to other people having more children, which puts a strain on doctors, hospitals and schools.”
THE SINGLE MUM
SINGLE mum Zoe Nichols works part-time at a local college and runs her own mobile beauty business, travelling to see her clients in a Nissan Leaf electric car.
The Budget introduced a 3p-a-mile charge for electric cars, so now the 39-year-old, who lives in Bournemouth with son Drayson, seven, will pay an extra £300 a year for the 10,000 mils she drives.
Zoe says: “All in all it’s disappointing. I watched the Budget and Rachel was saying lots of ‘Let’s make this great for working people’, and then she taxed the one thing I need for both my jobs.
“Thank goodness this 3p-a- mile tax doesn’t start immediately.
“I can’t fit my mobile beauty bed on a pushbike, I need something reliable, so I’ll just have to factor it in my prices.”
Zoe currently receives £730 a month Universal Credit which will go up by nearly four per cent – bringing in an extra £324 a year.”
THE WHITE VAN MEN
WHITE van men Andy Bage and Jarryd Sabatta spend £1,100 a month on diesel for the Ford Transit they use for house removals.
The pair, based in Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, faced having to pay an extra £500 a year if the Chancellor had increased fuel duty by five pence a litre.
But thanks to The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign, Rachel Reeves extended the temporary fuel duty cut until next September.
Jarryd, 35, said: “Fuel is our major cost and if duty had been unfrozen it would have affected us by £500 a year, which is a lot for a new business.
“We’re hoping she’ll think of the motorist this time next year and keep fuel duty frozen.”
And Andy, 44, believes that the online Fuel Finder tool the Chancellor announced to help drivers find the cheapest petrol and diesel – based on The Sun’s calls for a Pumpwatch scheme – will save them even more money.
THE PENSIONER
DIVORCEE Gloria Sammons recently started paying income tax on her pension of £13,791 a year because the amount you can earn before tax has been frozen since the end of Covid at £12,570.
Now that the personal allowance thresholds have been frozen until March 2031, it will cost her another £67 a year in tax.
After tax, her state pension will go up by £352 a year.
Gloria, also receives pension credits of £53 a week and £295 per month PIP payments, which will rise by £130 a year.
From her two-bedroom flat on a sheltered housing complex in Colchester, Essex, 73-year-old Gloria says: “Labour is no longer for the working class.
“They promised not to raise taxes and now Rachel Reeves is hitting pensioners with tax rises.
“I think it’s a disgrace.
“I’m angry as I have worked hard all my life, even to the detriment of my health, because I didn’t want to retire or get benefits, but medically I had to retire.”
THE SMALL BUSINESSMAN
SHAHID Vakkayil and wife Hasna own a convenience shop at a filling station near Sawtry, Cambs.
Together they earn £40,000 a year from the shop and are £67 a year worse off because of frozen tax thresholds.
They are hoping to save around £150 if energy costs come down as promised. But their business will be hit hard by the living wage going up by 50p to £12.71 an hour from April.
And Shahid fears that with the tax on a packet of cigarettes adding just under £1 to the price, customers will be driven to the black market for fags.
Shahid says: “There weren’t any initiatives that will help our business. Instead, the minimum wage was increased which puts extra strain on employers.”
The couple and their sons Dilawar, seven, and Dilhan, three, are unlikely to be hit by the Chancellor’s £2-a night per person holiday tax because they stay in a caravan on The Sun’s Holidays From £9.50.
THE CARER MUM
SINGLE mum Cheryl James, who suffers from fibromyalgia and scoliosis, is a carer for her oldest son, Joe, 23, who has autism.
She currently gets £1,911 a month in Universal Credit and PIP, as well as £75 a month help with mortgage interest on her three-bed home in Treharris, near Cardiff.
She also receives £104 a month Child Benefit for son Elliot, 13.
Due to a string of changes to Universal Credit and the Carer’s Allowance rising in line with inflation, Cheryl will be £848 better off a year.
Cheryl says: “That is fantastic. I can put the heating on more now. Hopefully I’ll have a little bit of money left at the end of each month, in case of an emergency.
“I’m happy as long as I can put a roof over my head, feed myself and my children.
“I agree that if you have a £5million house, you should pay more council tax than someone with a three-bed semi worth a few hundred thousand.”
