Gordon Brown’s currently giving what is likely to be his last budget speech. The preamble in the media suggests that the environment should feature. So far the key points are:
- 50% increase in microgeneration grants from next month (so each round should last for about 2 hours instead of just 75 minutes?)
- Zero carbon homes up to £500,000 will be exempt from stamp duty until 2012
- Encouragement for a market in energy-efficiency mortgages
- Insulation and central heating grants of up to £4000 for pensioners
On transport, he’s also rejigged the vehicle excise duty bands (£400 for the most polluting vehicles). Though, no surprise, no action on aviation.
Wa-hey! An extra £600 tax-free on ISAs! Although that’s just catching up with inflation…
Even better: the basic rate of income tax is down to 20% from next April!
Edit: Here’s a link to the full budget report if you want to check the detail. For example, since the 10% band has been scraped, the tax cut will only help those making over about £18,600 (ignoring low-income support measures and only until you get to the higher bracket where national insurance changes may have an impact). Confused? The BBC explanation and calculator makes it more clear.
