Budget 2011: At a glance
THE main points from George Osborne’s Budget were:
Company taxation
- A 1% cut in corporation tax from next month, falling to 23% by 2014
- Changes to the Controlled Foreign Company rules from next year including an effective UK tax rate on overseas financing income of 5.75 per cent
- A promise of enhanced tax incentives for investment in higher risk companies and for SMEs undertaking research and development activity
Enterprise
- First ten enterprise zones in Birmingham and Solihull, Leeds, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, The Tees Valley, Tyneside, Bristol, The Black Country, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and Sheffield.
- Changes to the Enterprise Investment Scheme including income tax relief up from 20% to 30%
- Doubling of Entrepreneurs Relief to £10 million.
- “Start-up Britain” campaign launched
Spending
- Green Investment Bank to launch in 2012 with capital of £3bn, allowed to borrow from 2015
- 50,000 additional apprenticeships and 100,000 work placements for young people
- Expanding the University Technical Colleges programme to at least 24 new colleges by 2014
- £200m investment in regional railways
Property and planning
- A new £250 million scheme to help first time buyers purchase new homes.
- The promise of a “presumption” in favour of sustainable development
- Removal of national targets on the use of previously developed land
Duties
- A 1p cut in fuel duty from 6pm tonight. Abolition of the 2009 Budget fuel duty escalator and replacement with a fair fuel stabiliser.
- No changes on alcohol duty beyond those previously announced.
- Tobacco duty rates will increase by 2% above inflation as scheduled
- Move to change tobacco duties to narrow gap between cigarettes and hand-rolled tobacco.
Personal taxation
- Basic rate of income tax threshold increased by £630 in April 2012 to £8,105
- Proposals to unite income tax and national insurance
- Promise of a crack down on tax avoidance to raise £1bn
- Non dom charge to rise to £50,000 for those resident longer than 12 years.
- Default indexation assumption for direct taxes to move to CPI.
Regulation
- Cutting of £350 million of red tape including the Equality Act’s dual discrimination rules
- Lord Young’s recommendations on health and safety laws implemented
- New restrictions on no-win no-fee legal services
- From April, a moratorium exempting all businesses employing fewer than ten people from new domestic regulation for the next three years.
