KEEPING THE FIGURES IN THE CHOTE FAMILY March 21, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne makes much of the endorsement given to his Budget by an independent quango he set up to monitor Treasury number fudging, the Office of Budget Responsibility. “These days the direct costing the Treasury applies to every Budget measure is independently assessed and certified by the OBR,” he yesterday declared pointedly to shadow [...]
POLO AT THE 02 March 21, 2012 POLO ponies took to the 02 Arena last night for the second staging of the hugely popular City A.M.-sponsored Gaucho International polo event. The Dome welcomed teams from Ireland, Scotland, England and Argentina for a celebration of the South American country’s sporting and cultural heritage. Guests including Katie Price were treated to a nail-biting headline [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 21, 2012 DEBENHAMS Citigroup has upgraded the retailer to “buy” and has raised its target price from 65p to 85p following Tuesday’s results. The broker is impressed by the firm’s gains in market share and gross margins despite a moribund UK retail market. Citi expects to see share buybacks beyond this year, with eight to nine per [...]
Chancellor to axe 50p band by next year March 21, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne pledged to cut the 50p top rate of income tax yesterday, claiming it had raised only £100m a year and was damaging Britain’s image as a global centre for wealth creation. Osborne cut the rate to 45 per cent, which aides hinted would now be the permanent top rate of tax. The [...]
Businesses cheer corporation tax cut March 21, 2012 BUSINESSES received a welcome cut to their tax bill yesterday as the Treasury accelerated its reduction in corporation tax for the second time in a year. The chancellor cut the tax to 24 per cent from April, one per cent lower than the 25 per cent it had been due to fall to in his original [...]
Child benefit red tape tangle March 21, 2012 A RAID on child benefits for higher rate tax payers was watered down by George Osborne yesterday, yet the chancellor’s amended system was accused of tying parents up with burdensome new red tape. The coalition had been set to remove child benefit from any household where an adult earned enough to fall into the 40p [...]
Osborne ups bank levy for fourth time in 15 months March 21, 2012 BANKS were hit with another hike in the government’s bank levy yesterday as the chancellor increased it to 0.105 per cent – the fourth rise since its creation just over a year ago. George Osborne said the 0.017 per cent increase would make sure that banks do not benefit from his cutting of corporation tax [...]
Loopholes on home sale fee slammed shut March 21, 2012 AN AGGRESSIVE crackdown against stamp duty avoidance on high-end properties will begin today, as the government slaps a punitive tax on the sales of expensive homes that wealthy people put into companies’ names. Sales of properties worth £2m or more that are “enveloped” in a bid to avoid the tax, will now be hit with [...]
Granny tax to hit 4m people March 21, 2012 MORE than four million pensioners will be hit by a “granny tax” after George Osborne said he would freeze the amount of income that is not subject to tax. The chancellor is set to raise £3.3bn from the measure over five years as part of Treasury measures to simplify the “complicated” system of age-related allowances. Osborne [...]
Osborne plans crackdown on avoidance schemes March 21, 2012 A GENERAL anti-abuse rule (GAAR) will be consulted on and implemented next year with the aim of stopping firms and individuals using “aggressive” tax avoidance schemes. George Osborne described tax evasion and extreme tax avoidance as “morally repugnant,” saying he wants firms to respect parliament’s will. The rule is expected to be based on a [...]