Budget 2014 in Summary

Budget 2014 – In Summary
Chancellor George Osborne has today announced the budget for 2014, here are the key points

• GDP forecast to grow by 2.7% this year and 2.3% next year, then by 2.6% in 2016 and 2017 and by 2.5% in 2018
• Fuel duty rise planned for September will not happen
• Beer duty cut by 1p a pint
• Duty on spirits and ordinary cider frozen
• Tobacco duty to rise by 2% above inflation and this escalator to be extended beyond the next general election
• £7bn package to cut energy bills, including £18 per ton cap on carbon price support, predicted to save medium-sized manufacturers £50,000 and families £15 a year
• Cash and shares Isas to be merged into a single new Isa with annual tax free savings limit of £15,000 from 1 July
• The 10p tax rate for savers abolished
• Cap on Premium Bonds to be lifted from £30,000 to £40,000 in June, and to £50,000 next year
• The point at which people start paying income tax will be raised to £10,500
• Bingo duty will be halved to 10%
• Threshold for 40p income tax to rise from £41,450 to £41,865 next month
• Threshold for 40p income tax to rise a further 1% to £42,285 next year
• Inheritance tax to be waived for members of the emergency services who give their lives on the job
• Tax on homes owned through a company to be extended from a residential properties worth more than £2m to those worth more than £500,000
• All long-haul flights to carry a lower rate of air duty currently charged on flights to the US
• The new twelve-sided £1 coin to be introduced in 2017
• Welfare budget to be capped at £119bn for 2015-16, rising in line with inflation to £127bn in 2018-19. The cap includes child benefit, incapacity benefit, winter fuel payment and income support – but does not include state pension and Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Public borrowing deficit forecast to be 6.6% of GDP this year, 5.5% in 2014-15 then falling to 0.8% by 2017-18 with a surplus of 0.2% in 2018-19
• Borrowing forecast to be £108bn this year and £95bn next year, leading to a surplus of almost £5bn in 2018-19
• A new charter for budget responsibility to be brought in this autumn
• Promises to make a permanent £1bn reduction in government department overspends
• All tax restrictions on pensioners’ access to their pension pots to be removed, ending the requirement to buy an annuity
• Taxable part of pension pot taken as cash on retirement to be charged at normal income tax rate, down from 55%
• Increase in total pension savings people can take as a lump sum to £30,000
• New Pensioner Bond, paying “market-leading” rates, available from January to over-65s, with possible rates of 2.8% for one-year bond and 4% for three-year bond – up to £10,000 to be saved in each bond
• Direct lending from government to UK businesses to promote exports doubled to £3bn and interest rates on that lending cut by a third
• Business rate discounts and enhanced capital allowances in enterprise zones extended for three years
• Help to buy equity scheme for new-build homes extended to 2020
• Support for building of more than 200,000 new homes
• £270m guarantee for Mersey Gateway bridge
• Legislation to give Welsh government tax and borrowing powers to fund infrastructure needs, including improvements to M4
• £140m extra for flood defence repairs and maintenance
• £200m made available to fix potholes