Autumn Statement 2012

Autumn Statement 2012 PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215053213
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
The Treasury should re-establish the annual Budget as the main focus of fiscal and economic policy making. The Autumn Statement is not, nor should it be, a second Budget. An additional budget can create uncertainty and carries an economic cost. Treasury and business managers also need to ensure that there is adequate Parliamentary time to allow proper scrutiny of the Finance Bill. About half of general government expenditure is to be protected from the new spending cuts but the complete protection of ring-fenced departmental budgets will be difficult to sustain while other departments are substantially affected. The Committee also intends to question the future Governor of the Bank of England, Dr Mark Carney, on possible alternatives to the inflation targeting that currently underpins the work of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank. The Treasury and to some extent the Bank were at fault for failing to coordinate the announcement of the Asset Purchase Facility transfer with that of the November MPC press release. It is vital that the MPC fulfils its duty to demonstrate its independence. There is concern at reports that the Funding for Lending Scheme may be biased in favouring lending for mortgages rather than lending to SMEs. The sums expected from the sale of the 4G spectrum and Swiss tax repatriation represent the majority of the additional receipts the Treasury intends to offset against the tax reductions and investment but both are uncertain. The Chancellor must also use the 2013 Budget to set out a clearer strategy for fuel duty over at least the medium term

Autumn Statement 2012

Autumn Statement 2012 PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215053213
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
The Treasury should re-establish the annual Budget as the main focus of fiscal and economic policy making. The Autumn Statement is not, nor should it be, a second Budget. An additional budget can create uncertainty and carries an economic cost. Treasury and business managers also need to ensure that there is adequate Parliamentary time to allow proper scrutiny of the Finance Bill. About half of general government expenditure is to be protected from the new spending cuts but the complete protection of ring-fenced departmental budgets will be difficult to sustain while other departments are substantially affected. The Committee also intends to question the future Governor of the Bank of England, Dr Mark Carney, on possible alternatives to the inflation targeting that currently underpins the work of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank. The Treasury and to some extent the Bank were at fault for failing to coordinate the announcement of the Asset Purchase Facility transfer with that of the November MPC press release. It is vital that the MPC fulfils its duty to demonstrate its independence. There is concern at reports that the Funding for Lending Scheme may be biased in favouring lending for mortgages rather than lending to SMEs. The sums expected from the sale of the 4G spectrum and Swiss tax repatriation represent the majority of the additional receipts the Treasury intends to offset against the tax reductions and investment but both are uncertain. The Chancellor must also use the 2013 Budget to set out a clearer strategy for fuel duty over at least the medium term

Autumn Statement 2012

Autumn Statement 2012 PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215050724
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
A Treasury led 'dash for gas' could make the UK's carbon targets under the Climate Change Act unachievable. The Committee is calling on the Government to restore investor confidence in the future direction of energy policy by setting a clear decarbonisation objective in the forthcoming Energy Bill to clean up the power sector by 2030. Ongoing policy uncertainty could mean that the UK loses out on millions of pounds of green investment. Global competition for green growth is fierce and the UK is competing with other countries to secure renewables investment. The Committee heard a variety of suggestions to boost take-up of energy efficiency measures in its inquiry on the Autumn Statement and received suggestions for new environmental taxes that could be implemented to help deliver the Coalition Agreement commitment to increase the proportion of tax revenues accounted for by environmental taxes

Autumn Statement 2012

Autumn Statement 2012 PDF Author: Great Britain: H.M. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101848022
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
The OBR's forecast for GDP growth in 2012 is -0.1 percent and is projected to pick up in every year of the forecast. Public Sector Net Borrowing is forecast to fall by 1.0 percent of GDP in 2012-13 and in subsequent years of the forecast. Public Sector Net Debt is expected to be 79.9 per cent of GDP in 2015-16 before falling to 77.3 per cent by 2017-18. This Statement sets out a further £6.6 billion package of savings in the spending review period, made up from welfare, Official Development Assistance (ODA) and departmental current spending. A £5.5 billion of additional infrastructure will be funded, including in new roads, science and free schools and academies. There will be a further 1 per cent cut in the main rate of corporation tax from April 2014, to 21 per cent and a significant temporary increase in the Annual Investment Allowance from £25,000 to £250, 000 for two years. A greater proportion of growth-related spending will be devolved to local areas and a Business Bank will be created to deploy £1 billion of additional capital and enable UK Export Finance to provide up to £1.5 billion in loans with a package of reforms to promote export. The Government will: increase the basic State Pension by 2.5 percent; create an HM Revenue & Customs unit dedicated to tackling offshore tax evasion; introduce of the UK's first General Anti-abuse Rule; develop significant new information disclosure and penalty powers; and close off tax loopholes. Lifetime allowances for pension contributions will be reduced.

Autumn Statement 2014

Autumn Statement 2014 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781910337516
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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House of Commons - Treasury Committee: Autumn Statement 2013 - HC 826

House of Commons - Treasury Committee: Autumn Statement 2013 - HC 826 PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215069474
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
Around 43% of departmental expenditure limits are ring-fenced. As a consequence, public expenditure control - on the scale required to address the deficit - will be increasingly difficult. While ring-fencing reflects public priorities, those preferences are not equally strongly held for all ring-fenced areas. Support for the 33.5% cumulative real increase in aid over the course of this Parliament, for example, appears to be lower than for health and schools. The Committee also remains concerned about the impact of the Government's Help to Buy: Mortgage guarantee scheme. An abrupt end to the scheme could distort the market, as could announcements which radically alter people's expectations. Forecasts of additional revenue from many anti-avoidance measures are inherently extremely uncertain. The Committee warned in its report on the Autumn Statement 2012 that the forecast revenues from the UK-Swiss agreement - at £5.3 billion - were subject to uncertainty and that the proceeds may not meet expectations. These concerns appear to have been justified. Even after the event it is often very difficult to establish how much a particular measure has raised. The OBR should look again at how the Government accounts for projected revenues, based on previous experience. Even after the event it is often very difficult to establish how much a particular measure has raised. The more transparency about the yield, and therefore each proposal's effectiveness, the better

HM Treasury: Autumn Statement 2013 - Cm. 8747

HM Treasury: Autumn Statement 2013 - Cm. 8747 PDF Author: Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101874724
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
Despite the improvement in the public finances, this year's Autumn statement is fiscally neutral and locks in lower spending by reducing departmental budgets for 2014-15 and 2015-16 by 1.1% but excluding local government, Security & Intelligence Agencies and HMRC. The Government will: cap the Retail Prices Index in business rates to 2% in 2014-15 and extend the doubling of Small Business Rate Relief to April 2014; will provide a business rate discount of £1,000 in 2014-15 and 2014-16 for retail properties with a rateable value of up to £50,000 and a 50% discount from business rates for new occupants of previously empty retail premises for 18 months; abolish National Insurance Contributions for under 21 year olds on earnings up £813 per week; remove cap on higher education student numbers; announce further reforms to make the most of the UK's science base; introduce a new tax relief for shale gas, and increase support for employee ownership and the creative industries; improve the UK's infrastructure with the National Infrastructure Plan 2013; and take further action to increase housing supply and support home ownership. Fuel prices will be frozen and the impact of policies on energy bills will be reduced. The average increase in rail fares will capped. Married couples & civil partners will be allowed to transfer £1,000 of their income tax personal allowance to their spouse where neither is a higher rate taxpayer.

HC 870 - Autumn Statement 2014

HC 870 - Autumn Statement 2014 PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215081536
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
The Treasury has again been unable to provide all the information needed by deadlines agreed with the OBR. The Government may, as the Chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility suggested, have decided that for political reasons this was a "price worth paying." This would set an undesirable precedent. The work of the Office for Budget Responsibility depends on the Treasury meeting the agreed deadlines. The Committee welcomes the OBR's innovation of providing uncertainty ratings for policy costings. The Committee recommends in future that the OBR publish a breakdown of the uncertainty rating assessment against the three criteria for all announced measures at Autumn Statements and Budgets. The Committee also welcomes the Government's continued publication of the distributional analysis of the Government's policy changes and recommends that the next Government continue with this important aid to transparency. The current inflation target set by the Government is symmetrical, and is 2 per cent at all times. Several witnesses alluded to the risks of very low inflation and subsequent deflation, including the Chancellor. The Chancellor has publicly welcomed the current level of inflation. This is not likely to help anchor inflationary expectations. The Governor of the Bank of England is required to write to explain to the Chancellor why inflation has fallen below 1 per cent. It is important to avoid mixed messages on inflation targeting. The Bank of England should undertake research on the effect of net migration, and the potential for future net migration, on the supply of labour and wage growth as part of the work on meeting the MPC's remit. The Treasury should ensure that discussions within Government on immigration policy fully consider the requirements of the economy.

Budget 2013

Budget 2013 PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215057006
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
The Treasury Committee's report on Budget 2013 focuses on: macroeconomy; the public finances; monetary policy; taxation; departmental spending; housing; energy policy; premature disclosure of budget information; Parliamentary timing. The report contains 46 conclusions and recommendations. Particular attention is paid to the Help to Buy housing policy, which is considered a work in progress which may have unintended consequences and may not help first-time buyers. The Committee poses a number of questions for the Chancellor on the policy. Overall, if the Government's priority was housing supply, its housing measures should have concentrated there. On energy it is unclear which Government Department is in the lead for energy policy and this lack of clarity must be addressed. The changes to the monetary policy remit announced by the Chancellor at the time of Budget 2013 create uncertainty. Tax complexity and instability remain of considerable concern. The Committee will monitor whether the Government anti-avoidance measures succeed in generating the revenue predicted of them. In addition, the Committee invited comments from three accounting bodies on how Budget 2013 meets the Committee's tax policy principles: basic fairness; supporting growth and encouraging competition; certainty, including simplicity; stability; practicality; and coherence.

Autumn statement 2011

Autumn statement 2011 PDF Author: Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101823128
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
The Autumn Statement sets out the Government's actions in three areas: protecting the economy; building a stronger economy for the future; and fairness. This document details plans for: public spending in 2015-16 and 2016-17; raising state pension age to 67 between 2026 and 2028; setting public sector pay awards at an average of one per cent for each of the two years after current pay freeze ends; £21 billion credit easing measures to support smaller and mid-sized businesses. To build a stronger economy, the Government is funding £6.3 billion of additional infrastructure spending, £1 billion of private sector investment in regulated industries will be supported by Government guarantee, and the Regional Growth Fund for England will be increased by £1 billion. Other measures on credit easing and enterprise include: up to £20 billion National Loan guarantee Scheme; investigation of alternatives to tribunal hearings; possible changes to collective redundancy processes; two proposals for radical reform of employment law; a Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme offering 50 per cent income tax relief on investments. Education will see an extra £600 million to fund 100 more free schools, and £600 million for local authorities with the greatest demographic pressures. Housing support includes a new build indemnity scheme to increase the supply of affordable mortgage finance and a revised right to buy scheme. Fairness measures cover fuel duty, rail fares, a Youth Contract worth £940 million, and extending the offer of 15 hours free education and care a week for disadvantaged two year olds.

Economic and fiscal outlook

Economic and fiscal outlook PDF Author: Office for Budget Responsibility
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101797924
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
The Office for Budget Responsibility was established to provide independent and authoritative analysis of the UK's public finances. Part of this role includes producing the official economic and fiscal forecasts. This report sets out forecasts for the period to 2015-16. The report also assesses whether the Government is on course to meet the medium-term fiscal objectives and presents preliminary observations on the long-run sustainability of the public finances. Since the June forecast, the UK economy has recovered more strongly than initially expected. The GDP growth was greater than expected in both the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but that unemployment levels have risen to levels that the June forecast did not anticipate until the middle of 2012. In general the world economy has also grown more strongly. CPI inflation has remained slightly higher than expected in June, whilst public finances have performed as forecast. The interest rates on UK debt are lower than in June. The OBR forecasts that the economy will continue to recover from the recession, but at a slower pace than the recoveries of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The publication is divided into 5 chapters with two annexes.