The Budget 2010 Highlights

Anyone who has followed the pre-Budget predictions on this blog (and there were a lot of you) won’t have been surprised by what Mr Darling had to say. When I played Chancellor (see my post Budget predictions – part 2) I concluded that I wouldn’t raise taxes more than already planned ahead of the election. So the news that Darling pretty much thought the same either proves he reads my blog or (and more likely) that he just didn’t want to upset the electorate. So while I blow my own trumpet and the dust settles on the pre-election Budget the key points are listed below: I have highlighted the headline grabbers in red. Tomorrow I hope to look at the Budget in more detail and answer the question on most people’s lips…. ‘How does the Budget affect me?’

• 3p fuel duty rise to be phased in between April and January 2011
• Duty on cider to rise by 10% above inflation from Sunday
• Wine, beer and spirit duty up 2% a year until 2013
• Tobacco duty up 1% this year and 2% a year in future years

• Stamp duty scrapped for homes below £250,000 for first-time buyers
• Stamp duty on residential property sales over £1m to increase to 5%

• Economy contracted 6% during the recession
• Predicted growth of 1-1.25% in 2010, in line with forecasts
• Downgrades growth forecast for 2011 to 3-3.5%

• Borrowing this year forecast to be £167bn - £11bn lower than expected
• Borrowing to fall from £163bn in 2010-11 to £74bn by 2014-15

• £2.5bn support for small business to boost skills and innovation
• One year business rate cut from October to help 500,000 companies
• Investment allowance for small firms doubled to £100,000
• Doubling relief on capital gains tax for entrepreneurs
• No change to capital gains tax rates
• £385m to maintain road network

• One-off bank bonus tax has raised £2bn, double the amount forecast
• Backs tax on bank transactions but on global basis
• Basic bank account guaranteed for a million extra people
• RBS and Lloyds Bank Group to provide £94bn in small business loans
• New service to adjudicate credit disputes

• Six month work or training guarantee for under 24s extended to 2012
• Amount of time over-65s have to work to receive work credits reduced

• Tax allowances for those earning over £100,000 gradually removed
• No changes to VAT or income tax planned
• Inheritance tax threshold frozen for four years
• Clampdown on tax avoidance to raise £500m
• New tax agreements with Belize, Grenada and Dominica

• On track to achieve £11bn efficiency savings target
• Reform of housing benefit to save £250m
• 15,000 civil servants to be relocated outside London

• £2bn investment bank to back low-carbon industries

• Funding for 20,000 new university places in science and maths
• £35m enterprise fund to help university-launched businesses

• Winter fuel allowance rates extended for further year