Budget 2010 Main Budget Announcements
Add an article Back to list
Press Notice 1
Main Budget announcements
Today the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has set
out his Budget with a comprehensive five-year plan to rebuild the British
economy. The plan sets out tough but fair action to tackle the unprecedented
budget deficit, introduce a fairer tax system, encourage enterprise and support
long-term growth across the economy.
The Budget sets out action within these three areas, to help
rebalance the economy and provide the conditions for sustainable growth. Each
builds on the Coalition Government’s core values of responsibility, freedom and
fairness.
1. Responsibility: Tackling the deficit & the fiscal mandate
The Chancellor has been clear that we need to tackle the
deficit urgently. Reducing the deficit is a necessary precondition for sustained
economic growth; today’s plans will help to restore stability and balance to the
economy, underpinning private sector confidence to support recovery.
The Government has therefore set:
• A fiscal mandate to achieve cyclically-adjusted current
balance by the end of the rolling, five-year forecast period. At this
Budget, the end of the forecast period is 2015-16;
• For this Parliament, the fiscal mandate will be
supplemented by a target for debt as a share of GDP to be falling at a fixed
date of 2015-16, ensuring that the public finances are restored to a
sustainable path;
• By 2014-15, 80 per cent of the additional consolidation
measures set out in this Budget will be delivered through spending
restraint, with additional spending reductions of £31.9bn a year by 2014-15
and additional net tax increases of £8.2 billion. Taking the total
consolidation measures delivered through spending restraint to 77 per cent;
• On spending, £29.8bn of the additional savings are from
public sector current expenditure (PSCE) and £2.2bn from public sector gross
investment (PSGI). There are no further reductions in public sector gross
investment beyond the cuts already announced as part of the £6.2bn of
savings in 2010-11;
• The Government will increase the standard rate of Value
Added Tax (VAT) to 20 per cent from 4 January 2011;
• The Government will increase the standard rate of
Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) to 6 per cent and the higher rate to 20 per cent
from 4 January 2011; and
• The Government will introduce a two year pay freeze for
public sector workforces from 2011-12, except for those earning £21,000 or
less, who will receive an increase of at least £250 in these years.
2. Freedom: Enterprise and growth agenda
This Budget will create the conditions for enterprise and
sustainable growth. The Chancellor wants to support business and make the UK
more competitive. This means giving businesses more freedom by reducing
regulation and providing targeted tax breaks, while ensuring that the economic
opportunities for businesses are shared more evenly throughout the UK’s regions.
Measures to support enterprise include:
• A major package of reforms to reduce corporation tax
rates including a reduction in the main rate of corporation tax from 28 per
cent to 24 per cent over the course of four financial years from April 2011
and reductions to the main and special rates of capital allowances from
April 2012;
• A reduction in the small profits rate from 21 per cent
to 20 per cent from April 2011;
• A National Insurance Contributions (NICs) holiday for
new businesses which start-up in certain areas of the UK over the next three
years;
• An increase in the Enterprise Finance Guarantee and the
creation of a new Enterprise Capital Fund; and
• A Regional Growth Fund in 2010-11 and 2012-13 to
support increases in business employment and growth, and a scheme in which
new businesses in areas of the UK outside of the East, London and the South
East will get a substantial reduction in their employer National Insurance
Contributions (NICs).
3. Fairness: A fairer personal tax and benefit system.
The Government has been clear that the burden of deficit
reduction will have to be shared. The changes announced today set out a vision
for a refocusing of the tax and benefit framework, while
• Uprating the basic State Pension by a triple guarantee
of earnings, prices or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest, from April 2011;
• Reduction in tax credit eligibility for families with
household income above £40,000 (down from £50,000) from April 2011;
• Intention to restrict the generosity of pensions tax
relief by reducing the annual allowance from April 2011. The Government will
ensure that this alternative approach raises no less revenue than has
already been accounted for in the public finances; and
• Indexing benefits by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
instead of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) from April 2011 - in order to
provide a fairer reflection of benefit claimants’ experiences.
protecting the most vulnerable in society. This Budget
announces measures to encourage people to take personal responsibility for their
actions by rewarding those who work hard and save responsibly for the future.
Personal tax measures:
• Increasing the personal allowance for under 65s by
£1,000 to £7,475 in 2011-12, taking 880,000 people out of income tax
altogether;
• Capital gains tax will rise from 18 to 28 per cent for
those liable to income tax at the higher and additional rates. The 10 per
cent rate for entrepreneurial business activities will be extended from the
first £2 million to the first £5 million of qualifying gains made over a
lifetime;
• The Government will work in partnership with local
authorities in England to implement a council tax freeze in 2011-12; and
• Introduction of a bank levy on banks balance sheets
from January 2011.
Welfare reforms:
As part of the welfare reforms, the Budget announces:
The measures set out by the Chancellor today will pay for the
past and plan for the future. This Budget represents the first important step in
transforming the economy, rebalancing growth across the UK and paving the way
for sustainable, private sector led growth in the years ahead.
About the Author
© Crown Copyright. Material taken from HM-Treasury.
Reproduced under the terms and conditions of the Click-Use Licence.
