On 16th March 2016, the Chancellor presented his Budget to Parliament. As a small business, we always pay close attention to the Budget as we must take into account how the changes will affect – and hopefully support – ourselves and our customers.
Here is a summary of just a few of the announcements that have been made.
- A surplus by 2019-2020: This year the deficit will have been cut by almost two thirds and Osborne announced that over the next four years the deficit will have been eliminated and the Government will raise more tax than they spend.
- Corporation Tax will be cut: After being cut from 28% to 20% in 2010, it will now be cut again to 17%. This move will benefit over one million businesses including Edinburgh Self Storage.
- Insurance Premium Tax Rise: Insurance Premium Tax is a tax on private insurers on general insurance premiums (such as self-storage insurance for example). IPT will rise from 9.5% to 10%.
- Business rates will be cut for all rate-payers: Beginning in April 2017, any small business which occupy property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less will no longer be required to pay business rates. With this new announcement, 600,000 businesses will not pay rates.
- Double funding for sports in primary schools and the sugar tax: These two announcements go hand in hand as the levy on soft drinks will be the source of the funding increase for primary school sports. The total funding will be at £320 million per year.
- 25% of schools will have a longer school day: Children, avert your eyes! A quarter of secondary schools will be able to opt in to longer school days, with the extra hours being allocated for extracurricular activities. There will be £285 million per year allocated to this.
- Every school in England will be an Academy by 2022: By the end of 2020, every school in England will either be a ‘free school’ or an academy or will be in the process of becoming one. Academy status is designed to give head teachers more power over their school’s budget and over their school’s curriculum.
- Lifetime ISA: From April 2017, any adult under the age of 40 will be able to open a Lifetime ISA; up to £4,000 can be saved per year and the Government will provide a 25% bonus on this money.
- The Personal Allowance will increase: The Personal Allowance (the amount of money that an individual is permitted to earn without paying tax) will increase from £10,600 to £11,500. Additionally, the rate at which you pay the higher rate of Income Tax will increase from £42,385 to £45,000.
- Fuel duty will be frozen in 2016-2017: Freezing the fuel duty saves the average motorist £75 a year, and this will be the sixth year of the fuel duty being frozen.
George Osborne’s eighth Budget as Chancellor was prepared so that the Government will “act now so we don’t pay later” and one that aims to focus on the future and “put the next generation first”. Whilst many of the announcements made involved a gloomy outlook on the economy, at Edinburgh Self Storage we look forward to seeing how Osborne’s plans can help toward a brighter future.
For more information on the 2016 Budget, please visit the following websites:
- Gov.uk
- Financial Times
- BBC News
- Image Source: The Telegraph