With a substantial corporation tax rise and an increase
to NICs and dividend rates already baked into the plan, and
many of the major spending decisions made public in the run up to
one of the leakiest Budgets in memory (and much to the
Speaker's annoyance), expectations as to any further
substantial tax changes in today's Budget were very low and the
Chancellor certainly did not disappoint. What was presented today
was a broadly crowd-pleasing Budget focussing on investment, duty
cuts and welfare reform for society's least well-off.
Duty announcements in particular will no doubt be very welcome
and many in the industry will be raising a glass (of sparkling
wine) to Mr Sunak tonight. The planned rise in fuel duty has been
cancelled and the alcohol duty regime is set to be simplified,
leading to a reduction in the tax on certain drinks, such as
sparkling wine. Air passenger duty on domestic flights is also set
to drop, in an effort to provide a boost to regional