The Budget Key Points
| UK Casino Times > Casino News 22 March 2006 The Budget Key Points Will the budget damage your gambling fund? We list the key points from Chancellor Gordon Brown's 10th Budget. Drink & Tobacco Duty on cigarettes will rise 9p. Tax rises 4p on wine and 1p on beer in line with inflation. Duty on spirits, sparkling wine and cider is frozen. Education Further education would be free of charge for the first time up to the age of 25, with adult learning grants to help with the cost of living. Resources would be redirected from "failing" college courses to the ones which employers wanted to see. Mr Brown said in the long term he wanted to raise the amount of capital funds for each state school pupil to the level seen in private schools now - £8,000. Over five years, investment in schools would rise from £5.6bn now to £8bn a year. £30bn of government assets, including the Tote, would be sold off. Sport There would be £600m available to fund world-class British athletes. There would be an annual schools Olympics, held in a different city every year until 2012. There would be a new national sports foundation, with £34m from the government and other funding from private companies. There would be another £2m for evening sports clubs for young people in a scheme run by police, Premier League football clubs and community groups. Environment Mr Brown said he rejected calls for the abolition of the climate change levy and instead would index the charge in line with inflation from 2007 to cut CO2 emissions further. He would propose a World Bank scheme to help developed economies to invest in new forms of energy in developing nations. A new £1bn energy and environmental research institute was being set up, funded by government and private industry. To make homes more environmentally friendly, Mr Brown promised new incentives for piloting "smart metering" and a new labelling scheme for energy efficient goods to make homes greener. A quarter of a million extra homes would be insulated over the next two years. Cars with the lowest rate of emissions would pay no vehicle excise duty but the 1% of most polluting cars would pay £210. Mr Brown postponed the usual annual inflation increase in fuel duty until 1 September, 2006. Families The personal tax allowance would rise from £4,895 to £5,035. The child element of the child tax credit to rise by 14% over the next few years. Child Trust Funds to get an extra £250, or £750 when the children reached seven-years-old. Child care vouchers to increase by £5 a week by £55. Property He said 160,000 new homes had been built in the last year. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott would give details of plans for £970m for shared equity schemes to help 35,000 people get onto the housing ladder. The exemption on stamp duty would be raised to £125,000 and the level at which inheritance tax begins to be paid would rise to from £275,000 to £325,000. Defence Funds would go to a memorial for the victims of the 7 July bombings in London and £1m would go to Britons injured in terrorist attacks at home and abroad. There would be £200m extra given to promote international peacekeeping and an extra £800m for the armed forces. There were now 170,000 more people in work than there were at the time of last year's Budget. Mr Brown promised to double training for women with low skills and addressing pay discrimination. Innovation Mr Brown promised a comprehensive programme for recruiting and retaining staff, including signing up 3,000 science teachers and funding after-school science clubs in 250 schools. Productivity was growing 2.3% - higher than at any time since the 1960s - said Mr Brown. Mr Brown said he was extending the research and development tax credit by doubling from 250 to 500 employees the size of companies able to claim higher credit. There would be new summer schools for entrepreneurs. The first £6bn in government efficiency savings had now been made, with cuts in civil service posts, said Mr Brown. Crime & Transport By April next year, the number of community support officers will more than double from 6,000 to 16,000. There will be free off-peak national bus travel for pensioners and disabled people from April 2008. |
