The Budget: What do you think? June 22, 2010 GEORGE Osborne yesterday delivered his debut Budget. Key measures included raising VAT to 20 per cent and cutting back on welfare provisions. The ambitious package contains the toughest raft of austerity measures in the post-war period. But will it be a success? Has the new chancellor done enough to plug the yawning Budget deficit? In [...]
Chancellor hikes VAT to 20 per cent June 22, 2010 George Osborne dubbed the budget the “unavoidable budget” as he pledged to bring public finances back into line – announcing a hike in VAT to 20 per cent. The chancellor unveiled a massive cost-cutting campaign including limiting housing benefit payments and freezing child benefit. A total of £11bn will be wiped off welfare spending by [...]
Poorest to pay no income tax at all June 21, 2010 ■ Osborne will announce £1,000 increase in income tax threshold ■ Banks braced for levy to raise over £3bn – more than first expected ■ Basic rate payers to get £200 tax break but higher rate payers lose out ■ Chancellor to say richest will bear brunt of deficit reduction measures GEORGE Osborne will today [...]
Broker locks in lower tax rate June 21, 2010 CITY veteran Terry Smith has sidestepped an expected rise in capital gains tax (CGT) by restructuring the way he holds £40m of shares in Tullett Prebon and Collins Stewart. Smith, who has played a key role building up both companies, has transferred the shares to a trust of which he is the sole beneficiary. The move [...]
Osborne walks a tightrope June 21, 2010 THE coalition government will have to perform a delicate balancing act when the Budget is delivered today if it is to avoid a rebellion on the Tory or Liberal Democrat backbenches. Yesterday, sources close to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg insisted the Budget would adhere to the party’s belief in “fairer taxation”, a pledge that [...]
What to look out for in the Budget June 21, 2010 THE ECONOMY/PUBLIC FINANCES • The newly-created interim Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) released forecasts last week for growth and public borrowing. But these were based on the policy decisions of Alistair Darling’s Budget and are likely to change in response to moves made by the new chancellor. • Previously, the OBR said GDP?growth is expected [...]
Shed Media confirms bid discussions June 21, 2010 TELEVISION production company Shed Media yesterday confirmed it was in talks to sell itself to Warner Bros Entertainment, a unit of Hollywood media group and Sex in the City maker Time Warner. Shed Media’s shares closed the day up around 7 per cent at 83.6p. Time Warner plans to acquire Shed Media, the maker of [...]
Osborne set for painful budget June 20, 2010 ■ Chancellor to announce tax hikes and spending cuts ■ Ex-Labour minister appointed to review public sector pensions ■ Bank levy set to raise “considerably more” than £1bn THE chancellor will deliver the toughest Budget in almost 30 years tomorrow with a mixture of swingeing public spending cuts and painful tax hikes. Yesterday, he warned [...]
Redwood calls for a rethink on CGT hike June 20, 2010 JOHN Redwood, the Tory MP leading a Westminster campaign against government plans to raise capital gains tax (CGT), yesterday urged George Osborne to rethink the proposals, just hours before his first Budget as chancellor. “Let’s make a statement; let’s say Britain is open for business,” Redwood said. “We really want enterprise. If you want to [...]
Yuan un-pegging to lift markets before Budget June 20, 2010 News at the weekend that China is to ease the yuan’s peg to the US dollar will be a boost to stock markets everywhere this morning, in the expectation that the move would prove a major lift to exporters. FTSE SET TO OPEN HIGHER GFT is forecasting the UK’s FTSE 100 to open up 35 [...]