WINNERS:
:: The oil and gas industry. The Chancellor threw a lifeline to an industry under pressure from tumbling global prices, with tax cuts worth £1 billion over five years.
:: Income tax payers. The threshold at which people start paying income tax will rise to £11,500 and the higher rate threshold to £40,000, taking 1.3 million individuals out of tax altogether.
By 2017/18, a typical basic rate taxpayer will be paying £1,005 less and a higher rate taxpayer £1,118 less than in 2010, says the Treasury.
:: Corporation tax payers. The levy on businesses is being cut to 17% – the lowest rate in the G20. Cuts to the tax are worth a total of almost £15 billion a year to business by 2020.
:: Small businesses. The 100% exemption from business rates is being extended from properties with a rateable value of £6,000 to £12,000, and being made permanent, with a tapered rate of relief for those worth up to £15,000. This will mean 600,000 businesses paying no rates.
:: Motorists. Yet again, Mr Osborne has frozen fuel duty, meaning van drivers will save £12 each time they fill their tank, compared to what they would have paid under the escalator in force in 2010.
:: Beer, cider and spirit drinkers. Alcohol duty on these drinks is frozen, saving drinkers £85 million a year if the benefit is passed on to customers.
:: Primary school sports classes, which will see their funding double thanks to money from the sugary drinks levy.
:: Airbnb landlords. People who make money from their property via online sharing sites will be able to earn £1,000 tax-free.
:: People saving for their first home. Under-40s will be able to open a new Lifetime Individual Savings Account ( a “Lisa“), gaining a 25% bonus from the government for savings of up to £4,000 a year towards buying a home.
LOSERS
:: The soft drinks industry. Rather than imposing a blanket sugar tax, Mr Osborne has hit drink manufacturers and importers with a new levy on high-sugar drinks expected to bring in £520 million a year and reduce consumption of fizzy beverages.
:: Public sector employers. They are facing a £2 billion increase in the cost of providing pensions to employees from 2019/20.
:: Wine drinkers. Unlike beer and spirits, wine faces a duty hike in line with inflation – increasing the tax on a 75cl bottle to £2.09.
:: Smokers who roll their own cigarettes. An above-inflation hike worth £10 million a year is targeted at self-rolling tobacco, after evidence that its share of the smoking market has soared since 1990.
:: Overseas traders using online marketplaces to sell into the UK. Traders using websites like Amazon and eBay to sell goods from abroad will face de-listing if they do not pay VAT in the UK.
A BIT OF BOTH:
:: The G&T set. Traditionally a core Tory constituency, lovers of gin and tonic will have been cheered by the freeze on duties on spirits, only to find that the new soft drinks levy will hit their favourite mixer. Unless they prefer slimline tonic.
:: George Osborne. The Chancellor put a brave face on predictions which downgraded growth and raised borrowing forecasts, insisting that they were largely due to global instability and a change in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment of British workers’ productivity.
He was able to cling onto his claim that he will get Britain’s books into surplus by the end of the Parliament, and he won praise from children’s health campaigners for his bold move on sugary drinks.
Recommended for you
