00:00Well, Labour's first budget in 14 years saw Chancellor Rachel Reeves announce the biggest tax increases in three decades today,
00:07a rise of $52 billion a year, with much of it falling on businesses.
00:13According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, the tax hikes will be equivalent to 1.25% of economic output,
00:21levels not seen since 1993.
00:25However, Reeves, the UK's first female Chancellor, said she needs to cover a $29 billion shortfall inherited from the previous government.
00:34Perhaps the biggest hit to businesses was a rise in their national insurance contributions by 1.2% to 15% next April,
00:44lowering the threshold for when employers start making the contributions to $6,500 per year.
00:51Here's that moment in Parliament.
00:54I know that this is a difficult choice. I do not take this decision lightly.
01:00We are asking businesses to contribute more.
01:03And I know that there will be impacts of this measure felt beyond businesses, too, as the OBR has set out today.
01:11Well, Reeves said the decision would raise an extra $32.5 billion a year in five years' time
01:17and have further impacts, as set out by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
01:21However, company bosses have warned that tax rises, combined with an increased minimum wage,
01:27could undermine Labour's pledge to turn Britain into the fastest-growing group of seven economy.
01:33Reeves also announced a string of other revenue-raising decisions, including changes to the tax rules on capital gains and inheritance
01:42and tax paid by private equity executives and non-domiciled residents, too.
01:47Meanwhile, the Chancellor said the newly created National Wealth Fund would spur investment worth $90.6 billion
01:55by creating the conditions that businesses need to invest in the industries of the future, such as gigafactories and green hydrogen, too.
02:02The initial reaction to Reeves's speech suggests investors have taken her plans well,
02:07with government bond prices rising further as she addressed Parliament for well over an hour.
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