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Budget 2008 round-up

Created:
12 March 2008
Updated:
13 March 2008
Written by:
Jonathan Eley

This was the dullest, most tedious and forgettable Budget in years - delivered, as David Cameron aptly put it, with all the excitement of someone reading a telephone directory. With precious little wiggle room in public finances, and no election looming, there were no headline-grabbing hand-outs - just more tinkering within the existing framework.

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The main issues raised (from the point of view of investors) were:

■ Changes to aviation taxation may impact airlines, while the commitment to European emissions trading will boost some - but hurt conventional power generators. More analysis....

■ The Enterprise Investment Scheme allowance is raised by £100,000. More analysis...

■ There are some changes to fund taxation, especially property funds. More analysis...

■ Darling is sticking to his guns on the taxation of non-domiciles. More analysis...

■ Changes to taxation and National Insurance will hit lower and higher earners. More analysis...

■ It will be easier to take benefits from a small accrued pension fund as a lump sum, rather than having to buy an annuity. More analysis...

■ Taxation on dividends from foreign shares will be aligned with that of UK shares. More analysis...

■ Spirits giant Diageo thinks the duty increases are a bad idea. No surprise there, then. More...

CLICK HERE FOR A SUMMARY OF THE NEW TAX RATES AND ALLOWANCES

RATHER MORE IRREVERENT BUDGET COVERAGE...

As you can probably tell from the introduction to this piece, I hate the Budget. Read why here.

I'm not the only one. Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BCG Brokers, thought it was a stinker too. Read his comments here.

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