Here's a round-up of the key points from the Budget 2013:
Tax
- Employment Allowance - worth up to £2,000 for every business employing staff
- Personal income tax allowance raised to £10,000 by 2014
- Beer Duty escalator scrapped and beer duty reduced by 1p
- Fuel Duty increase planned for September cancelled
- Tax-free childcare vouchers - 20% off first £6,000
- Capital gains tax relief for sales of businesses to their employees
- Govt. to introduce 'largest ever' package of tax avoidance & evasion measures
- Bank Levy rate increased to 0.142% next year
- Corporation tax reduced by 1% to 20% in April 2015
- Stamp duty on shares in AIM scrapped
- Research & Development Credit increased to 10%
Housing/Mortgages
- Mortgage Guarantee Scheme - offering £130bn of help to help unable to raise deposit required by lenders
- Shared equity loans for borrowers of new homes worth up to 20% of value
Pensions
- New single tier pension brought forward to 2016
Public Sector Pay
- Public sector pay rises limited to 1% for further year
- Military personnel to be exempt from 1% public sector pay cap
Economy
- Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to get new powers MPC remit and permitted to use unconventional tools
- CPI inflation target still to be 2% target.
- Borrowing forecast for this year at £114bn
- Growth forecast for 2013 revised down by 0.6% to 0.6%
