Saving and investing news
Boring Budget
12 March, 2008
If you were hoping for this year’s budget to shock or surprise you, you would be out of luck this afternoon. The same goes if you are a borrower, homeowner or contemplating taking your first step on to the housing market.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, did not announce anything really that we did not know before. One worrying point is that he said he was going to write to the Bank of England to reiterate that his inflation target is 2%. This does confirm that we will not see the interest rate cuts which other countries have seen to help them through the credit crunch crisis.
So here, in brief, are the main points of the 2008 Budget.
• Mr Darling postponed for six months a 2p per litre fuel duty rise - but added an extra 0.5p rise from 2010.
• In his first Budget he also said Child Benefit would rise from April 2009 to £20 week - a year earlier than planned.
• Also from April 2009, the child element of the child tax credit for families on low and middle income will rise by £50 a year above inflation.
• The winter fuel payment for the over-60s will go up from £200 to £250 and for the over-80s it will rise from £300 to £400.
• The government will launch the "savings gateway" nationally with the first accounts available by 2010.
• Cash ISA limit confirmed as £3,600 a year from April.
• From this April, key workers such as teachers and nurses, will be able to borrow money from the government’s shared equity schemes. Stamp duty on shared ownership homes will not be required until people own 80% of their home.
• More people should have the chance to have a long term fixed mortgage, the chancellor said.
• He said a report showed that long term fixed rate mortgages can reduce the risks for first time buyers and can keep them on the housing ladder.
• From 2009, major reform of the vehicle excise duty. For new cars from 2010, the lowest polluting cars will pay no road tax in the first year. Higher polluting cars will pay more.
• Cigarettes up 11p a packet.
• Beer up by 4p a pint, wine 14p a bottle, spirits 55p a bottle and cider 3p a litre by Sunday. So, if you're a binge drinker you've got one more weekend to do it before it hurts your wallet as well as your liver.
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