Earlier today George Osborne delivered his first ‘only Conservative’ budget aimed at balancing the books. As was announced ahead of the May national elections the government plans to achieve this objective by trimming the welfare system whilst at the same time rewarding work through lower taxes.
In his speech Mr Osborne also revised the growth forecast for the UK for this year to 2.4%, down from 2.5% announced in March. The Chancellor also pushed back the date at which the UK’s public finances would move into surplus by a year to 2019/20.
The following are some of the measures announced :
- An increase in the inheritance tax threshold to £1m for married couples by 2017;
- Corporation tax rates to reduce to 19% in 2017 and 18% by 2020;
- Non-doms status to go for individuals who have been resident in the UK for 15 years out of 20 years;
- Restricted higher rates tax relief on mortgage interest for buy-to-let landlords;
- Tax thresholds to change – personal allowance to be £11k from next year, and higher rate threshold of £43,000;
- A National Living Wage, starting at £7.20 and rising to £9 an hour by 2020, replaces the £6.50 minimum wage;
- Working-age benefits to be frozen for four years;
- Scrapping housing benefit for under-21s;
- New car tax bands with a standard charge of £140 – and new cars will not need MOTs for the first four years, rather than three;
- Restrictions on public sector pay increases, which will be limited to 1% a year for the next four years;
