Our at-a-glance guide to Osborne’s mini-Budget December 5, 2012 THE UK ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ■ The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised down its forecast for UK growth and revised up its forecast for public sector borrowing. It says the government is no longer likely to meet its target of reducing debt as a proportion of GDP in 2015-16, breaking its supplementary fiscal rule. [...]
It’s business as usual as Osborne fiddles December 5, 2012 WHEN expectations are low enough, anything short of a disaster is inevitably hailed as a good performance. That, I’m afraid, is the best way of looking at George Osborne’s Autumn Statement, and the main reason why so many Tory MPs were happy last night. There were no massive, pasty-tax style blunders; all of the bad [...]
Slow rise in threshold means 400,000 more paying 40p rate December 5, 2012 HUNDREDS of thousands more workers will be dragged into the higher rate tax bracket under new proposals announced yesterday, which will see the threshold rise at both below the rate of inflation and wage increases. The higher rate threshold will go up by one per cent in 2014-15 and 2015-16, bringing an additional 400,000 people [...]
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 [...]
Autumn statement December 5, 2012 THE BUSINESS CONFEDERATION’S VIEW DIRECTOR GENERAL JOHN CRIDLAND The CBI is the UK’s top business lobbying organisation. It aims to influence government policy on a wide range of business matters. “£5bn on near-term infrastructure, like the tube to Battersea, half a billion a year tax relief for small firms, and £1.5bn extra export support should [...]
Directors slam politicians for tax loopholes December 3, 2012 POLITICIANS should target tax avoidance by getting rid of legal loopholes, not browbeating firms into paying more, the Institute of Directors (IoD) said this morning. “It is very frustrating for many companies who pay large tax bills that some multinationals are able to avoid doing so,” said IoD boss Simon Walker. “The solution must be simplifying the [...]
Rapid responses December 3, 2012 Capital gains [Re: Osborne must now face up to his fiscal failings, yesterday] As the chief executive of a UK-based small-to-medium sized business (SMB), I urge George Osborne to lay out a clear plan that would support business over the long term, and therefore kick start Britain’s economy. SMBs account for the vast majority of private [...]
Stock markets call for slashed capital levies December 2, 2012 THE government must slash capital gains and abolish stamp duty on AIM trades in its Autumn Statement, the London Stock Exchange demanded yesterday, in order to boost growth among small and medium enterprises. Cutting capital gains tax to 10 per cent, from the 18 or 28 per cent it currently stands at, combined with completely [...]
How to plan for the Autumn Statement December 2, 2012 WITH so much focus on tax in the past few months, it would be no surprise if this week’s Autumn Statement sets taxpayers up for a long and cold winter. Its contents are as yet unknown, and George Osborne has vowed to keep his silence ahead of Wednesday’s Statement. That, however, should not prevent taxpayers [...]
Responding to the threat of cuts to pension tax relief December 2, 2012 AS GEORGE Osborne prepares for his much-anticipated Autumn Statement, rumours abound that he will cut pensions tax relief for higher-rate earners. The Chancellor is coming under increasing pressure to meet his debt targets during a time of sluggish economic growth and high public spending levels. And pensions are a likely subject for tinkering now that [...]