BUDGET SNAPSHOT

	Rates                     1994-95             1995-96

			       taxable income      taxable income

	20% lower rate          1 - 3,000           1 - 3,200
	25% basic rate      3,001 - 23,700      3,201 - 24,300
	40% higher rate        over 23,700         over 24,300


	Allowances (pounds)        1994-95           1995-96


	Personal                    3,445             3,525
	Personal age 65-74          4,200             4,630
	Personal age 75 and over    4,370             4,800
	Married Couple's and
	    additional personal     1,720             1,720
	Married Couple's 
		    age 65-74       2,665              2,995
	Married Couple's 
	      age 75 and over       2,705              3,035

(as announced in Nov 1993 Budget, married couple's allowance and mortgage interest relief restricted to 15 per cent from April 1995)

Excise duties:

• petrol up 2 1/2p a litre;

• diesel up about 3p a litre;

• cigarettes up 10p for 20;

• spirits, beer, cider and most wines unchanged;

• vehicle excise duty up £5 to £135 for cars, light vans.

Value added tax (VAT):

Standard rate unchanged at 17 1/2 per cent; will apply to domestic fuel and power from 1 April 1995 as announced in March 1993 Budget and legislated in 1993 Finance Act.

3. Helping people back into work .

To encourage employers to take on people who have been out of work, particularly for long spells:

• employers' national insurance contributions (NICs): rates for employees earning less than £205 a week cut by 0.6 per cent;

• employers' NICs: full rebate for up to one year for employees who have been out of work for at least two years (from April 1996);

• Work Trials: expanded to total 150,000 places over next three years; enables employers to try out people out of work for 6 months or more for 3 weeks while they continue to get benefits, so scheme free to employers;

• further Workstart pilots: grants to employers who take on workers unemployed for at least 2 years, will help about 5,000 people.

• Family credit: payments speeded up;

• Housing and council tax benefit: people out of work for at least 6 months get benefits paid for 4 weeks after taking a job; payments to be speeded up;

• Jobfinders' grants: help with initial work expenses for people unemployed at least 2 years;

• Back to Work bonus of up to £1,000 when unemployed leave income support having done some work while on benefit, to be tax free;

To help people who want full time work:

• more family credit: extra £10 a week for people working at least 30 hours;

• further Jobmatch pilots help to build up full time hours and earnings by taking number of part time jobs.

To keep unemployed in touch with labour market:

• Workwise and 1 - 2 - 1: more help for 18 to 24 year olds unemployed for at least a year.

• extra 40,000 Community Action places;

To try out new ways to help unemployed without children:

• pilot new benefit paid to childless couples and single people who take low paid work.

4. Business measures

Business rates:

transitional relief worth over £600 million following April 1995 revaluation - real increases in rates bills limited to 7 1/2 per cent a year for small properties; 10 per cent for large properties.

Venture Capital Trusts:

will provide income tax relief at 20 per cent, and capital gains tax reinvestment relief on investments up to £100,000 a year in mainly unquoted trading companies.

Enterprise Investment Scheme:

capital gains tax reinvestment relief extended to investments in EIS. Other simplifications.

Quarterly Payments of PAYE and NICs:

extended to employers with average monthly payments of £600 (up from £450); over 60 per cent of employers will be able to pay quarterly.

VAT returns and payments:

consultation on annual payments for small businesses and on simplified accounting.

VAT registration threshold:

up from £45,000 to £46,000

Insolvency reforms:

consultation on reforms to help firms in difficulty and to help avoid wasteful liquidations.

5. Savings

TESSA:

holders of TESSAs to be able to deposit up to £9,000 capital from a mature account into a new account.

Personal Equity Plans (PEPs)

extended to include corporate bonds.