What does the chancellor’s budget mean for you? December 5, 2012 Catherine Gannon, 50 Managing director of law firm Gannon Having started her own business 10 years ago, she earns around £100,000, though says this is getting more difficult to achieve, and while she has a share portfolio, she doesn’t have much in the way of a pension plan. Lives with her two children aged 10 [...]
Coalition hopes to fill UK energy gap with gas December 5, 2012 THE DASH for gas came a step closer yesterday as the chancellor talked up the importance of the fuel for Britain’s energy security. But there were fears that the incentives offered to gas producers would not be enough to tempt firms to generate enough power to bridge the UK’s looming capacity gap. In the Department [...]
TV and video game industries get duty cut December 5, 2012 BRITAIN’S creative industries were boosted by new tax incentives yesterday. The video game, animation, and “high-end” TV production sectors will receive a credit to offset corporation taxes, amounting to 25 per cent of qualifying spending, George Osborne announced. The policy had been announced in March’s Budget, but the level of tax relief was not made [...]
Treasury expecting £3.5bn 4G auction windfall December 5, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT expects to raise £3.5bn from next year’s auction of the mobile airwaves needed to run high-speed 4G services, George Osborne said yesterday. The windfall will boost the Treasury’s coffers, and will flatter this year’s deficit figure, but will be far less than the £22.5bn raised in 2000’s 3G auction. In fact, the £3.5bn [...]
Investors shrug off chancellor’s statement and growth revisions December 5, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne’s rejigging off his fiscal policies failed to jolt markets yesterday, while investors would not allow themselves to be spooked by lower growth forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. The UK’s fiscal watchdog slashed its estimate of UK growth for 2012 to minus 0.1 per cent, down from its previous estimate of [...]
Government backs Heseltine’s plans for local authority power December 5, 2012 LOCAL authorities are set to get a say over billions of pounds of funding, after the chancellor endorsed Lord Heseltine’s recent report on stimulating growth. The 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across the country will become responsible for pitching spending ideas to a central funding pot from 2015, according to the Autumn Statement yesterday. LEPs, [...]
Ultra-long gilt plan shelved December 5, 2012 THE government yesterday scaled back its plans to issue super-long 100 year perpetual gilts and instead settled on issuing securities with up to 60 years maturity. The announcement comes on the back of a consultation by the Debt Management Office on the appetite for ultra-long gilts. The maturity cap is currently set at 50 years [...]
New superfast internet plans December 5, 2012 TWELVE cities will share a £50m pot created to boost businesses’ access to ultrafast broadband, the chancellor announced yesterday. The money will be split up between Brighton and Hove, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Oxford, Portsmouth, Salford, York, Newport, Aberdeen, Perth and Derry. It will go to authorities in those areas as part of a “super-connected cities” [...]
Reits granted tax incentive December 5, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT has confirmed it is to introduce new legislation allowing real estate investment trusts (Reits) to invest tax-efficiently in each other. The announcement, made alongside the Autumn Statement yesterday, was welcomed by the industry who said giving Reits the same tax freedom as investing in physical buildings would boost investment into the property sector. [...]
Osborne blocks Lib Dem hopes for mansion tax on £2m homes December 5, 2012 MANY London homeowners breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as George Osborne ruled out a mansion tax on expensive properties, something his Liberal Democrat colleagues had been pushing for. The tax — an annual levy on homes worth more than £2m— has long been a cherished Lib Dem policy, which the Tory party have repeatedly refused [...]
