This was an eagerly awaited budget for many reasons, not least with the confirmation or otherwise of provisions already announced, the culmination of consultations on complex areas of tax, fear of substantial  increases in tax rates, the pressures on the economy and how, given all of this, was the Chancellor going to balance the books!

Well despite the relatively short speech the devil was in the detail and the journalists were given a headline rate of tax of 50% to fill their front pages.  However important the headline rate of tax might be, the Chancellor has gambled that growth and time will repay the Government debt that even a 50% tax rate will not!  Perhaps growth will be the answer as many other options are difficult given that the British Treasury has a lower credit rating than Cadbury Schweppes; difficult budgets ahead we fear!

The budget in summary contains many changes, some welcome and some not but clearly many of our clients will be impacted in some way. 

On behalf of all of us at Dixon Wilson we hope that you find our budget guides useful.

If you require further specific advice then please get in touch with your usual contact at Dixon Wilson or the authors. 

James Kidgell
Jonathan Sutton