Business
- VAT threshold for small business to remain at £85,000 for two years
- £500m support for 5G mobile networks, fibre broadband and artificial intelligence
- £540m to support the growth of electric cars, including more charging points
- A further £2.3bn allocated for investment in research and development
- Rises in business rates to be pegged to CPI measure of inflation, not higher RPI
- Digital economy royalties relating to UK sales which are paid to a low-tax jurisdiction to be subject to income tax as part of tax avoidance clampdown. Expected to raise about £200m a year
Personal taxation and wages
- Tax-free personal allowance on income tax to rise to £11,850 in April 2018
- Higher-rate tax threshold to increase to £46,350
- Short-haul air passenger duty rates and long-haul economy rates to be frozen, paid for by an increase on premium-class tickets and on private jets
- National Living Wage to rise in April 2018 by 4.4%, from £7.50 an hour to £7.83.
Pensions, savings and welfare
- £1.5bn package to “address concerns” about the delivery of universal credit
- Seven-day initial waiting period for processing of claims to be scrapped
- Claimants to get one month’s payment within five days of applying
- Repayment period for advances to increase from six to 12 months.
- New universal credit claimants in receipt of housing benefit to continue to receive it for two weeks
Stamp duty and housing
- Stamp duty to be abolished immediately for first-time buyers purchasing properties worth up to £300,000
- To help those in London and other expensive areas, the first £300,000 of the cost of a £500,000 purchase by all first-time buyers will be exempt from stamp duty
- 95% of all first-time buyers will benefit, with 80% not paying stamp duty
- Long-term goal to build 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s
- £44bn in government support, including capital funding and loan guarantees, to boost housebuilding
- 100% council tax premium to be levied on empty properties
- Compulsory purchase of land banked by developers for financial reasons
- Review into delays in developments given planning permission being taken forward
