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"   Politics Schmolitics. If you think today&amp;#039;s budget is just too boring to plough through, we get where you&amp;#039;re coming from. But in fact, once you&amp;#039;ve read through the political PR fluff, there are some key messages that will affect you (and not all in a bad way).  The Chancellor, George Osborne knew that the budget was going to make for grim reading. After all, we&amp;#039;re on the verge of a &amp;#039;triple dip&amp;#039; recession \u2013 in fact, we&amp;#039;ve really just plateaued at the bottom of the recession pit but you say potato, I say pota(r)to -and most of it is about cutbacks and how to get us all spending again (yes, that&amp;#039;s your permission to hit Topshop). While the papers might make headlines of the big policies what does it really mean to you? From big changes to benefits, new first time buyer legislation and small businesses provisions, here&amp;#039;s the Cosmo budget breakdown... Want to get on the housing ladder?Any first time buyer who wants to buy a new home worth less than \u00A3600,000 will be given help. As long as you have a 5% deposit, the Government will stump up an extra 20% - repayable when the house is sold. And if your not-so-impressive wages aren&amp;#039;t enough to even get a mortgage, apparently that could be about to change \u2013 the government is guaranteeing banks and companies who lend the money \u00A3130 billion, to help get people onto the housing ladder. LOOK BEAUTIFUL ON A BUDGET Can&amp;#039;t afford to pay for childcare?1.08 million women can&amp;#039;t find work in the UK and a lot of this is down to the cost of childcare \u2013 it&amp;#039;s been so high that it can be more expensive to go back to work than to stay home and look after the kids. In the budget, Osbourne has pledged to introduce tax-free childcare vouchers worth \u00A31,200 per child, along with increased support for families with children on universal credit. Got a car? Live in a house that uses gas and electricity?It WILL still cost a fortune to run but September&amp;#039;s rise in fuel duty has been cancelled. SPRING HIGH STREET FASHION HAS DROPPED Run your own business?There will be new provisions to help jobs and smaller businesses \u2013 the government is creating an employee allowance to reduce companies&amp;#039; national insurance bills by \u00A32000 per employee. So you can hire someone and pay them up to \u00A322,000 \u2013 or four people at minimum wage \u2013 without having to pay any job tax. Up to 2.5m employers will benefit, while 450,000 of the country&amp;#039;s smallest businesses will no longer pay ANY employer contributions apparently. Don&amp;#039;t earn much or work part-time?The limit&amp;#039;s been raised so that you have to earn \u00A310,000 or over before you pay any income tax. This should benefit three million low-paid Brits and the average family will be about \u00A3700 better off as a result. GET THE CELEBS&amp;#039; HOTTEST LOOKS FOR LESS Work in the public sector?A freeze of 1% on public sector pay until 2015/6 will save billions of pounds for the economy (yes, that will cover about three days of our national borrowing, but still) it means that if you work for the government or in the public sector, don&amp;#039;t be expecting any decent pay rises for the next few years. This will hit women hardest as they make up the majority (64%) of the public sector workforce. Enjoy a Friday night vino?Er sadly it&amp;#039;s set to get even pricier because the government is increasing alcohol duty .The only exception is beer where the duty is being cut by 1p. Oh you are generous, George. We&amp;#039;ll stick with the Pinot thanks. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/reports/a19493/the-budget-2013/>