Chancellor George Osborne has announced his budget:-
- The personal allowance will be raised to £10,000 from next year and not from 2015 as previously planned.
- Corporation tax will be reduced by 1% to 20% in April 2015 to show “Britain is open for business”, but the bank levy rate will increase to 0.142% to offset this reduction.
- The capital gains tax holiday is to be extended.
- A new employment allowance will take the first £2,000 off the employers national insurance bill, of every company in the country. Approximately, 450,000 small businesses – one third of all employers – will pay not employer NI at all.
- Tax-free childcare vouchers worth £1,200 per child will be introduced.
- The flat-rate pension worth £144 a week will be brought forward to 2016.
- The public sector pay cap of 1% will be extended by one year to 2015-2016.
- The planned fueld duty rise expected this September will be scrapped.
- The cap on social care costs will come in in 2012 and will protect savings above £72,000. The threshold for means-tested help will be raised from £23,000 to £118,000.
- There will be a new “help-to-buy” scheme for those struggling to find mortgage deposits. This will include £3.5bn for shared equity loans and a government interest-free loan worth 20% of the value of a newly built home.
- The planned 3p rise in beer duty has been scrapped and replaced by a 1p cut in duty on a pint of beer.