The Budget at a Glance
Alistair Darling, revealed the Budget for April 2008 yesterday. It can be quite an ordeal, working through the whole of the budget and what it actually means for us in our everyday life, so here is a rundown of the budget, at a glance.
- People with lower incomes and key workers who are buying their homes through the shared ownership scheme, will not have to pay any stamp duty tax, provided they will own less than 80% of the property they are purchasing.
- To help pensioners with their fuel bills over winter, any OAP's over 60 will get an extra £50, and those over 80 will get £100. Plus energy companies will have to increase financial help to those on expensive pre-payment meter systems, who tend to be low income families and the elderly.
- In an aim to help children in poverty, Child Benefit goes up in April 2009 from £11 to £20 per week. It will also now be excluded from figures when calculating a households income.
- Savings schemes for those on low incomes will be started nationwide from 2010, after several schemes have been piloted. The scheme will be called The Savings Gateway.
- Everything we deem as naughty but nice is being taxed. Cigarettes are up by 11p a packet and cigars up by 4p, as of today. Duty on booze goes up too. Cider will be up by 3p per pint, 4p extra on a pint of beer, wine by 14p and spirits increase by 55 pence.
- Green issues and the environment have seen a few changes too. Carrier bags will have a tax on them from 2009, if high street retailers and supermarkets don't do more to help reduce the number of plastic bags being used.
- Because of the highest oil prices we have experienced in ages, fuel duty won't be increased until October 2008 where it will go up an extra 2p per litre. However, Vehicle Excise Duty goes up for all cars minimally but those cars that are environmentally un-friendly will have a much higher duty to pay.
Our property and mortgage markets are a bit unsteady at present and our costs of living are on the increase as bills for food, fuel for running our cars and energy for running our homes goes up too.
The Budget has had to reflect our troubled financial markets and will hopefully provide some stability over the coming months.
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