It’s that time of year again…the Budget is announced! The Budget is the UK's annual financial statement, including a review of taxation levels and announcement of spending plans. It is the responsibility of, and delivered by, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, who works closely with his team of ministerial colleagues and senior civil servants.
Here are the main findings from the budget:
1. New top tax rate of 50% for those earning more than £150,000 as of April 2010
2. The number of people out of work in the UK rose by another 177,000 to 2.1 million between December and February.
3. UK government borrowing at £90bn
Here are some of the taxation levels and spending plans changes:
· Alcohol and cigarettes taxes to go up 2% from midnight - one estimate is that it would put 5p on the average pint of beer
· From next month until March 2010 motorists to get £2,000 discount on new cars if they trade in cars older than 10 years
· Income tax for those earning more than £150,000 to rise to 50% from April 2010
· Economy forecast to shrink 3.5% in 2009
· Government support for economy to protect 500,000 jobs
· Child tax credit to rise by £20 by 2010
· Annual limit for tax-free ISAs to rise to more than £10,000 for over-50s this year and for everyone else next year
· £525m for offshore wind projects
· Loss-making companies to be able to reclaim more taxes paid in the last three years
· Grandparents of working age who care for their grandchildren will see that work count towards their entitlement for the basic state pension
A full list of the changes can be found here
Click here for the full written budget and the chancellor’s speech
Confused by the budget will help you? Click here to get your questions answeredFor those interested in social media, HM Treasury has even set up Twitter and YouTube channels with extra information about the budget
No comments:
Post a Comment