Key parts of the Budget: Mr Osborne says, After the mess we were left, we put Britain right. If youre a maker, a doer or a saver: this Budget is for you. This is a Budget for building a resilient economy. Abandoning his economic plan, which is working, is the biggest risk. Mr Osborne says the IMF believes the UK is achieving the largest reduction in both the headline and the structural deficits of any major advanced economy in the world. He forecasts that the annual Budget deficit will disappear by 2018-19, on current trends. But, he adds, faster growth alone will not balance the books, more hard decisions are needed, more cuts are required. Mr Osborne says, “We are getting a new one pound coin, in the shape of the old thruppenny bit. A more resilient pound for a more resilient economy, There will be more cuts in public spending in the next Parliament (if the Conservatives are elected, of course - a small point he doesnt mention). We are continuing with pay restraint in the public sector, He outlined more plans to cap welfare payments - setting the overall limit at £119bn in 2015-16, excluding state pensions and unemployment benefits. On tax avoidance, Mr Osborne says he is increasing HMRCs budget to stop non-compliance. We will give HMRC modern powers to collect debts from bank accounts of people who can afford to pay but have repeatedly refused to, like most other Western countries. We are expanding the new tax we introduced to stop people avoiding stamp duty by owning homes through a company, Mr Osborne says. From midnight tonight anyone purchasing residential property worth over half a million pounds through a corporate envelope will be required to pay 15% stamp duty Mr Osborne says he will be providing a grant to the Magna Trust in commemoration of its 800th anniversary The OBR has revised down forecast tax receipts from North Sea Oil, Mr Osborne says, adding that the change is the danger of Scottish independence. These further downgrades in the tax receipts would leave independent Scots with a shortfall of £1,000 per person, he says. Tomorrow we introduce legislation to give new tax and borrowing powers to the Welsh Government to fund their infrastructure needs, and they can start now on work to improve the M4 in South Wales, the chancellor says. Mr Osborne says energy costs need to be cut by investing in new sources of energy for Britains manufacturing to be competitive. We are going to have a £7bn package to cut energy bills for British manufacturers, Mr Osborne says. House! Mr Osborne says the number of bingo halls has plummeted by three quarters over the last 30 years and so bingo duty will be halved to 10%. In other words, Osbourne is saving Britain, Well see more cuts in services to pay for this, bingo players will get a bit of a bonus. Big business will get cuts in their energy bills (probably at everyone elses expense). Welsh Govt will get tax paying powers and be expected to pay for M4 upgrades. (Funny thing is that the bulk of the M4 is in England!) Poor, disabled and unemployed will see their support slashed. Beer tax reduced. Grant for the Magna Carta trust to support the 800th anniversary. (Nothing for Bannockburn 700 funnily enough for some strange reason.) Oh, I almost forgot,they will be re-writing tax legislation to recover the pitence lost each year to those loopholes in the old regulations. And, Oil will make each Scot £1000 worst off if we say Yes! Just waiting for the e-mail from BT saying how Lamonts toilet paper and Osbournes budget are more nails in the separatist coffin! Aye, sure!
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:03:07 +0000