Gordon Brown's Bold Budget - 21st March 2007


by Fiona Howard - Date: 2007-03-26 - Word Count: 337 Share This!

Economists have suggested that Mr Brown gave with one hand and took away with the other in this budget. Gordon Brown certainly wrong-footed the political opposition when he pulled his income tax cut out of the hat in the last few minutes of his budget speech. The main budget changes are:

Financial The basic rate of income tax to fall from 22p to 20p - April 2008 Top rate income tax threshold raised to £43,000 - April 2009 Corporation tax reduced to 28% from 30% - April 2008 Small companies tax rate raised from 20p to 22p -2009 Capital gains tax exemption rises from £8,000 to £9,200 - £18,400 for a married couple Inheritance tax allowance rises from £285,000 to £350,000 - April 2008 Child benefit for first child rises to £17.45 and to £20 by 2010 Tax-free allowance for pensioners under 75 raised from £7,280 to £9,770 - 2011

Environmental Raised road tax for gas-guzzling cars (Band G rises to £300 and to £400 in April 2008) Lowest emission cars remain at zero tax and Band B tax reduced to £35 Zero-carbon new homes up to £500,000 made exempt from stamp duty up to 2012 Annual land-fill tax raised £8 - April 2008 Grants of £300-£4,000 for pensioners installing insulation/central heating in homes

Luxuries Beer and cider up 1 pence a pint, wine up 5 pence a bottle, sparkling wine up 7 pence - from midnight 25 March 2007 Cigarettes up 11 pence a packet - 6pm tonight No increase to spirits Cut in VAT on nicotine replacement therapies for 1 year from July - (from 17.5 per cent to 5 per cent)

Green campaigners had hoped the Chancellor would have made more energy-saving moves, such as more expensive air travel, but he added no VAT to airline tickets and business owners were disappointed with the rise in small business tax, but overall the budget was judged as fair. As predicted Brown concentrated on the environment and education. There is to be a £14 billion increase in spending on schools - a rise from £60 billion to £74 billion by 2010


Related Tags: budget, income tax, inheritance tax, tax cuts, gordon brown, march 2007, corporation tax, road tax

Fiona Howard specializes in writing for the financial and business market, and is a well-respected city analyst. She currently advises Loan-Loans-Mortgage, one of the leading UK online sites for finding a fast Business Loan

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