Budget helps Scottish households and business
The 2013 Budget contains a number of measures to help Scottish companies and households, Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said today.
Speaking after the Chancellor’s statement to the House of Commons, Michael Moore said:
“This is a budget that will support business, create jobs, and help households – even against the backdrop of a troubled international economy.
Help for business
“We’re supporting businesses, large and small, to move forward and create jobs by:
- Cutting Corporation Tax to just 20% by 2015 – the lowest in the G20
- Paying the first £2000 of employers’ National Insurance contributions, of huge help to small businesses
- Boosting the construction sector with increased capital spending and a Help to Buy Mortgage scheme”
Help for households
“And we are providing help to households that are feeling the pinch by: * Raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 from next April; taking a quarter of a million Scots out of income tax altogether; and * cutting it by £700 for over two million Scots * Cancelling the fuel duty rise due to come into effect this September and * Paying 20% of the childcare costs for over 300,000 children under 12 in Scotland”
“So, yes, the economic weather is rough: but there is room for government to innovate and take measures that will build that stronger in economy in that fairer society. That is what we are doing.”
Measures contained in the Budget which help Scotland include:
- The devolved Scottish Government will receive an overall additional spending power of £176 million over the next two years as a result of Barnett consequentials.
- A £55m increase in Barnett consequentials in 2013-14 and a £121m increase in 2014-15. This comes from a £279m increase in capital, with a reduction in the resource budget by £103m.
- The RDEL reduction for the Scottish Government is 0.2%, about a fifth experienced by most UK departments. This means that the Scottish Government has received an extra £1.7bn on top of what was originally announced in the 2010 Spending Review.
People in Scotland will benefit from decisions taken in the Budget including:
- A further increase in the personal allowance bringing it to £10,000 in 2014-15, benefitting 2.2 million taxpayers in Scotland. In total, 224,000 people in Scotland have been taken out of tax in Scotland by this government – 9.3% of working age people in employment
- The cancellation of the fuel duty increase, benefitting owners of 2.7m motor vehicles in Scotland, saving a typical motorist £25, van driver £50 and haulier £750 per year.
- Childcare support, available to 210,000 families in Scotland with 310,000 children under 12
- Help to Buy for those struggling with deposits for a new home. Introduction of Government equity guarantee on 95% mortgages to help across the UK. For an average home mover in Scotland, a 90 per cent mortgage would require a deposit of around £20,500. With a 95 per cent mortgage they would require a £10,500 deposit.
Scottish business will benefit from:
- A further 1% reduction in the main rate of corporation tax to 20% by 2015, which will see the UK have the joint lowest rate in the G20.
- A number of measures to improve access to finance for SMEs through the Business Bank and Enterprise Finance Guarantee
- A new employment allowance of £2,000 per year for all businesses and charities to offset against their employer national insurance bill from April 2014, benefitting 70,000 businesses in Scotland by £100m, with 35,000 of these business being taken out of NICs altogether.
- The abolition of Schedule 19 stamp duty reserve tax, making the UK and Scottish asset management sector more competitive. This will help generate substantial numbers of jobs in middle and back office functions, many of which are already based in Scotland.
- An increase in Above the Line credit for large company R&D expenditure. There are around 175 claims for this large company relief in Scotland each year.
Key sectors will also benefit from this Budget, including:
- Continued support for the oil and gas sector through the introduction of Decommissioning Relief Deeds, providing certainty that tax reliefs will be available to support future decommissioning costs of £35bn, unlocking billions in investment
- The Peterhead Project in Aberdeenshire being named as a preferred bidder in the UK’s £1bn Carbon Capture and Storage programme
- The aerospace sector based around Edinburgh benefiting from access to the £2.1bn Aerospace Technology Institute supporting research in the sector