Mr Darling said of his first budget "This Budget is about equipping Britain for the times ahead...about building a fairer society,"
To a large degree the chancellors hands were tied by the decisions of his predecessor, who borrowed too much in order to fund public sector reforms. Therefore when also taking into consideration the current economic climate there was very little room for manoeuvre. Clearly the Chancellor had also not helped his own cause and credibility by having to back track on a number of announcements he had made in his October Pre Budget Report particularly in relation to Capital Gains Tax and the taxation of Non Domiciles.
We will now consider the detailed press releases and consultation documents to see what, as ever, the devil in the detail contains but in case you have not yet been able to catch the main points coming out of the budget report we thought we would summarise them for you.
· Forecasts that there will be no recession in the UK economy with forecast growth for the forthcoming 12 months of between 1.75% to 2.25%.
· The chancellor pledges to keep inflation under control and he is writing to the governor of the Bank of England to keep a 2% target on inflation.
· The forecast is for public spending in the coming three fiscal years to increase by 2.2% a year.
· Next year public sector borrowing will increase to £43bn.
· There is an increased budget of £2bn for the defence services supporting the troops in the frontline. This will include £900m on military equipment.
· The fuel duty increase planned for April is postponed until October.
· ISA limits to increase from April 2008 to £7,200 a maximum of which £3,600 can be in cash.
· From April 2009, child benefit will be increased to £20 a week.
· As announced last year the 10% lower rate of income tax is to be abolished but the basic rate of income tax reduced to 20% from 22%.
· The income shifting legislation proposed to counter husband, wives and others sharing income to minimise tax liabilities is to be deferred to April 2009.
· Main corporation tax rate will decrease, as previously announced, to 28% from April this year.
· Small company corporation tax rate will increase from April this year from 20% to 21%.
· It was confirmed that the changes announced in the 2007 Budget to the capital allowances regime are to be introduced from April 2008.
· EMI share scheme limit per individual increased from £100,000 to £120,000.
· The maximum amount of investment that attracts relief for investment into qualifying companies under the Enterprise Investment Scheme to be increased from £400,000 to £500,000.
· The maximum amount of investment that attracts relief for investment into qualifying companies under the Venture Capital Trust scheme to be increased from £400,000 to £500,000.
· The Chancellor confirmed that certain gains will qualify for the new entrepreneurs relief rate of 10% but all other individual capital gains will be taxed at a flat rate of 18%.
· The already announced changes to the inheritance tax regime are to be introduced from April 2008.
· A target to be set and measures introduced for small businesses to win 30 per cent of public sector business and contracts.
· The proposed non- domiciled residents charge, for those in the UK for more than seven years will be introduced in April and will be a charge of £30,000.
· The rates and thresholds for stamp duty land tax remain unchanged.
· The winter fuel allowance is to increase from £200 to £250 for the over 60s and from £300 to £400 for the over 80s.
· Duty on alcohol will increase on Sunday as follows: beer up by 4p a pint, wine 14p a bottle and cider 3p a litre. This is around 6% above inflation.
· The duty on a packet of cigarettes is to increase by 11p.
· There will be a requirement for new non-domestic buildings to become zero-carbon from 2019.
· As leaked at the weekend from 2009 there is to be a major revision to the vehicle excise duty and from 2010 the duty on new cars will be increased for highly polluting cars. | 
