Deficit cut as soaring house prices raise stamp duty revenue December 5, 2013 LONDON’S housing boom is driving up stamp duty revenues sharply, Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) numbers showed yesterday, slashing the budget deficit as increasing numbers of house buyers are dragged into higher tax bands. The rise in prices will also nearly double revenues from inheritance tax as more properties push estates beyond the £325,000 threshold. [...]
Budget watchdog fears unsustainable GDP spurt December 5, 2013 BRITAIN’S recovery is faster than expected and the country should run a budget surplus in 2018-19, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said yesterday – but it also warned the UK will be held back by weak productivity and poor exports in the years ahead. Much of the growth has come from households running down [...]
Q and A: What has happened to the bank levy this time? December 5, 2013 Q What has happened to the bank levy?A It is being hiked again, the fifth rise since its introduction in 2011. Next month it goes up to 0.156 per cent of each big bank’s balance sheet. It is also being extended to include large retail deposits in the calculation. Q Why does it keep going [...]
Bank levy increased again to stop lenders benefiting from tax cuts December 5, 2013 THE BANK levy was raised again yesterday to take more from lenders and stop them benefiting from falling corporation taxes. But analysts said it risks having a perversely negative impact on lending – just when the government wants more lending to businesses and households. The tax will take 0.156 per cent of each large bank’s [...]
Challengers sign up to mortgage scheme December 5, 2013 CHALLENGER banks Aldermore and Virgin Money became the latest lenders to sign up to the Help to Buy guarantee scheme yesterday. The pair join lenders like RBS and Lloyds in offering the products, under which the government guarantees up to 20 per cent of the mortgage for home buyers with a small deposit. They will [...]
Employers get £500m per year break to hire under-21s December 5, 2013 FIRMS hiring young workers will not have to pay national insurance contributions, the chancellor said yesterday, cutting the cost of taking on the employees. The charge, which can be up to 13.8 per cent, will be cancelled for employees below the age of 21 and earning below the higher threshold of £813 per week. It [...]
Osborne announces plan to tighten up fiscal rules December 5, 2013 GEORGE Osborne has set out plans to tighten up fiscal rules in order to ensure the government achieves a surplus by the end of the next parliament in 2020. A new Charter for Budget Responsibility will be introduced, in which the chancellor will detail his plan to make sure the debt keeps falling, alongside proposals [...]
Married couples get £1,000 tax allowance December 5, 2013 THE CHANCELLOR gave more detail on one of David Cameron’s flagship policies in his Autumn Statement yesterday, setting out plans for how the married couples tax allowance will work. Couples, including those in civil partnerships or same-sex marriages, will be able to transfer up to £1,000 of their tax-free personal allowance from 2015, as long [...]
Local government excluded from more spending cuts December 5, 2013 Local government will be excluded from a further £1.1bn of cuts to departmental budgets, with the intention of helping local authorities to freeze council tax from 2014 to 2016. Chancellor George Osborne suggested yesterday that the average household would save £1,100 during the course of the current government because of the repeated freezing of council [...]
Burden on high streets is eased as rates capped December 5, 2013 BRITAIN’S struggling high streets were handed some relief yesterday after the government gave in to calls from industry leaders to cap the rise in business rates next year. George Osborne has cut the rise in rates, due to come into force next April, to two per cent instead of the planned 3.2 per cent rise [...]
