Chancellor hands out series of perks in first budget
The Chancellor made a serious of headline grabbing announcements in his budget when it came to taxation.
Tax on alcohol and fuel has been frozen and the National Insurance threshold has been raised from £8,632 to £9,500 next month.
Rishi Sunak said: “I’m announcing today £1m of support for promoting Scottish food and drink overseas and £10m of new R&D funding to help distilleries go green.”
“And to further support the industry, I can also announce that this year the planned increase in spirits duty will be cancelled.”
“I can announce that, exceptionally, for this year, the business rates discount for pubs will not be £1,000 – it will be £5,000. And I’m also pleased to announce that the planned rise in beer duty will also be cancelled.”
“And because of decisions I’ve taken elsewhere in the Budget, I am also freezing duties for cider and wine drinkers as well.
“For only the second time in almost 20 years, that’s every single one of our alcohol duties frozen.”
He added: “I have heard representations that after nine years of being frozen, at a cost of £110bn to the taxpayer, we can no longer afford to freeze fuel duty.
“I’m certainly mindful of the fiscal cost and the environmental impacts.
“But I’m taking considerable steps in this Budget to incentivise cleaner forms of transport. And many working people still rely on their cars. So I’m pleased to announce today that, for another year, fuel duty will remain frozen.”
Speaking about the changes to National Insurance he said: “That’s a tax cut for 31 million people, saving a typical employee £104.”
The chancellor resisted calls to get rid of the much criticised Entrepreneurs Relief Fund.
Instead of axing the tax relief the threshold has been reduced from £10m to £1m.
The tax beak was seen as being over expensive and not broad enough and calls to axe were led by the Federation of Small Business.
Founder and MD of peer to peer lending platform Sourced Capital, Stephen Moss, said: “A double whammy of lower savings returns as a consequence of the sudden interest rate cut and the wiping away of £9m in lifetime entrepreneur tax relief in one foul swoop.
“Anyone would think that it was Jeremy Corbyn that got elected in December and not a Tory government.
“Luckily, there are other more lucrative areas of investment return that the Treasury has not yet soiled such as the ISAs and property investment vehicles. Move quickly, for there is also a Spending Review around the corner and you may well find that these last lucrative bastions may also soon be curtailed.’
