The Chancellor’s last Budget before the election contained few surprises, either good or bad. Below is a summary of the announcements.
Stamp duty scrapped for homes below £250,000 for first-time buyers
Stamp duty on residential property sales over £1m to increase to 5%
3p fuel duty rise to be phased in between April and January 2011
Winter fuel allowance rates extended for further year
£2bn investment bank to back low-carbon industries
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
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
On track to achieve £11bn efficiency savings target
Reform of housing benefit to save £250m
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
Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
