Cutting petrol costs, dropping taxes.

[Gob]

What we got in the budget..

The Chancellor told the House of Commons that he had “put fuel into the tank of the British economy” as he announced that petrol duty would be reduced by 1p a litre from 6pm this evening.

In a move designed to help drivers suffering from record petrol prices, he cancelled a 1p rise in duty scheduled by the last Labour government for next week, and announced a "Fair Fuel Stabiliser" to keep costs down.

The move will be funded by an increased levy on oil and gas production.

In a 56 minute address, Mr Osborne also announced that corporation tax would be cut by 2 per cent, more than the 1 per cent reduction which was already scheduled, with further 1 per cent falls in coming years.

Funded by an extension of the banking levy, the tax will eventually be slashed to 23% from its current rate of 28%.

And he confirmed plans to raise personal tax allowances to £8,015, a real terms increase of £48 a year, or £126 in cash terms.

But there was bad news for taxpayers, after Mr Osborne announced that tax would in future be measured according to the CPI index, rather than the more generous RPI.

This is an effective stealth tax, because tax-free personal allowances will almost certainly be calculated at a lower rate in future.

And following a slew of poor economic announcements in recent days, he was forced to admit that growth forecasts had been cut by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Other major announcements include a consultation on radical plans to merge income tax and national insurance, and to link the state pension age to longevity.

HM Revenue and Customs will examine how much the 50p top rate of tax raises, with Mr Osborne saying that he saw the measure as a “temporary” one.

There was help for first time buyers, more support for councils to fix roads, and a crack down on tax avoidance by the wealthy.

Charities were given a substantial boost, with new measures to simplify gift aid.

Other measures include:

* the creation of 21 enterprise zones.

* energy bills to rise by at least £6 a year as a result of world's first carbon price floor for the power sector.

* a simplified, flat-rate pension to be created, probably at a rate of £140-a-week.

* a £50,000 charge for non-domiciled foreigners who have lived in the United Kingdom for 12 years.

* air passenger duty rise postponed for a year, and a new tax on private jets.

* no futher rise in alcohol duty, tobacco increase brought forward to 6pm today.

* business mileage rate increased from 40p to 45p.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budg ... -duty.html

[thestoat]

Could have been worse, considering how depressingly shit the economy is, creaking in debt. In the first half of 2010 we paid over 21 billion pounds just in interest!

[Daisy]

Yeah thanks a lot for that 1p saving on petrol Gideon... now what about the rest of the 20p a litre it's gone up over the last month??

The only good news for me is the BMR increase, however they're fucking slow at paying me back the £1500 I claimed for last year.

[thestoat]

Gotta be thankful for small mercies. Yes, petrol prices are crippling, but at least that damned fuel escalator has been scrapped.

[quaddriver]

What is this 1p 2p 20p crap? sounds like you pay your bills with algebra...

[Daisy]

1p = one penny

It's a hundredth of a pound....

I thought you might have gotten to grips with decimal coinage, seeing as though you've had it longer than we have?

[quaddriver]

1p = one penny

It's a hundredth of a pound....

I thought you might have gotten to grips with decimal coinage, seeing as though you've had it longer than we have?

U hundredth of a pound? isnt that about one sixth of an ounce?

what is a large sum of money? A mile? or a gallon?

over here we pioneered (no pun) paying with beaver furs and deer horns.

and grizzly claws. oh yes, gotta have Griz.

[Daisy]

If you think that's confusing ... shall we talk about pre decimal currency for the UK?

One Pound = 20 Shillings (also known as a "Bob" displayed as an "s")
One Shilling = 12 Penny (we had 240 pennies to the pound and they were displayed as a "d")
One Penny = Two Halfpennies
One Halfpenny = Two Farthing ... (that's farthing not farting)

We also had a 10 Bob Note
A Two Bob Coin
A Half Shilling Coin, known as a sixpence.

Pounds, Shillings and Pence were displayed separately for accounting .... eg £5 5s 6d.


I was born around the time of the switch to decimal, yetl we STILL had maths books using the old currency when I started primary school five years later.

Gob will probably remember the actual transfer to Decimal as he would have been about 10 when that took place.

[The Hen]

What we got in the budget..

UK shite blah blah blah

Darling? Did you move back to the UK and leave me with a straw doppleganger?

[Gob]

Daisy, you forgot florins, groats, tanners, thruppences, guineas, etc

Hen, you only just noticed?

[The Hen]

Hello? Mr Straw Doppleganger, can I have another cup of coffee?

I should have realised sooner when I was able to be waited on hand and foot.

[Long Run]

So, if my math is anywhere near right, the gas tax was going to go up 6 cents a gallon*, where petrol costs $8.8 per gallon (per the "Fuel Costs" thread), but this increase of less than one percent was not implemented. Instead, the producers of oil and gas will pay an additional tax to make up for this; presumably, they will pass on their added costs to all consumers, though most of which are the ones that are now receiving the tax relief. Doesn't seem like this adds much relief. More like a sop than anything meaningful. Some of the other myriad provisions seem to have a larger impact.

* there are 3.76 liters per gallon, so 1p rise is 3.76 pennies per gallon. The exchange rate is about $1.60 to a pound, so this works out to just over 6 cents per gallon tax relief.

[rubato]

1 US gallon = 3.785 liters

[thestoat]

The 1p rise is about 0.74%, so absolutely, it isn't a big deal. What is a big deal is that it was due to rise even more this month and then again next month, and both those rises are scrapped. So instead of something like a 7p rise we get a 1p drop - that is a lot more significant. Mind you, I think the 2 planned rises would have led to riots. As for the tax on oil companies, the chancellor says he will watch the companies "like a hawk" to make sure the costs are not passed to consumers. Time will tell ... On the surface it seems a good thing, because when oil prices are high, oil companies make enormous profits since it is their oil selling at a high, so a tax on them to help consumers doesn't seem so bad

[Daisy]

Daisy, you forgot florins, groats, tanners, thruppences, guineas, etc

I didn't want to overtax him with any more.

We have a lad in our team who's a little bit... well I guess "Thick" is probably the best word for him.

We explained pre-decimal currency to him the other week, it was fun watching his brain go into meltdown.

[thestoat]

When I was at school we learned our "times table" - and went up to the 12 times table. I always thought that was an odd number to learn - why not 10? But I guess it was to do with that fact there were 12 pence in a shilling - unless anyone else has a better explanation?

[Crackpot]

dozen is a common measurement

[Crackpot]

and 169 (please) leads to a rude joke.

[thestoat]

dozen is a common measurement

Of course - hadn't thought of that

[Gob]

Dozen is far handier than decimal. You can subdivide it more easily.