‘Why has the Chancellor left the wealthiest untouched?’ – our money and economics writers answered your questions

The Guardian’s money and economics editors Hilary Osborne and Heather Stewart answered your questions on energy prices, tax thresholds and the global events pressuring the economy. FelonMarmer asks : What is going to stop landlords just transferring their tax increase onto tenants, while complaining about how hard done by they are? Heather says : Unfortunately, there’s nothing to stop landlords passing their higher tax bills onto their tenants, aside from what the local rental market will bear.

Indeed, the Office for Budget Responsibility did suggest one result of this and other recent policies (the 2p rise this year followed another 2p last year) could be “a steady rise in rents,” as some landlords whack up rents and others leave the market altogether. I think John Healey’s answer would probably be a fairness one - that income made through renting out property should be taxed more heavily than that earned through work. Heather says: That’s a really good question: Labour strategists are adamant that they wouldn’t. I can’t help thinking that voters were so convinced the public services were in a dire state, they could have accepted the argument that taxes needed to rise.…