Gordon Brown's decision to cut the basic rate of income tax from 22p to 20p but also scrap the 10p lower rate could mean most people are unlikely to be better off.

The announcement that corporation tax is to be cut from 30p to 28p could also be interpreted as a good and a bad thing, depending on the size of your business.

So just who are the main winners and losers in this year's Budget?

Geoff Don is the senior tax manager at Monahans Chartered Accountants, independent financial advisers with offices in Chippenham and Swindon.

He explained why this Budget, likely to be Gordon Brown's last, will mean provide mixed blessings.

"I thing this Budget is great for pensioners and for low income working families.

"I think it's good news for larger businesses but for smaller business they've seen an increase in Corporation Tax rates so that's not good news.

"However that has been off-set with a new £55,000 capital investment allowance for those that are pushing research and development so the cutting edge businesses, a lot of which are small, may benefit from this.

"So it's mixed news for smaller businesses and good for bigger ones."

Families

Mr Don added: "Increases in the Working Families Tax Credit and minimum wage will be good for families on lower incomes.

"At the opposite end of the spectrum we're seeing an increase in the tax threshold at which you start paying higher rates, now up to a salary of £43,000."

The most significant budget losers, according to Mr Don, are definitely the smaller businesses.

He said: "Smaller companies who are not investing in research and who do not have a lot of capital investment, I think they will feel the pinch because the Corporation Tax rate has risen from 19 per cent to 22 per cent. Painters and decorators for example may feel hard done by."

Social pursuits

Others hit by the new measures will be drinkers and drivers, although this year's 2p fuel duty rise will be delayed for six months.

Duty on beer and cider rises 1p a pint, wine 5p and cigarettes 11p. Road tax on "gas guzzlers" rises to £300 this year.

However Mr Brown also cut VAT from 17.5% to 5% on nicotine patches and similar products and said duty on spirits was being frozen.

Responding to the increase in duty on beer, CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner said: "This is a false economy for the Government as we may now see an exodus from pubs after beer prices rise.

"This is bad news for the millions of people who enjoy British pubs but will now face a higher cost to visit them.

"At a time when 56 pubs a month are closing, the smoking ban is imminent and supermarkets are selling beer at ridiculously low prices, British pubs needed a lifeline from their government and that has been denied them."


John Wildman, owner of Wildmans 4 X 4 Centre in High Street, Urchfont is concerned about the taxing of socalled 4 X 4 "gas guzzlers".

He said: A lot of the pick-up and things that we sell are for businesses and they need them for their employment.

I haven't had the chance to see the news yet to completely find out all the fact but it doesn't seem like very good news because so many people in Wiltshire have these kind of cars."

Readers have already begun leaving comments about this issue on-line. Will in Herefordshire wrote: "Here we see yet another attack on the rural communities as Brown once again taxes our vehicles.

"I don't see why there is no distinction made between the trailer-pulling work Land Rover and the idiotic Chelsea tractors designed for blocking our cities' streets.

"When will this government acknowledge that the UK is not one sprawling suburb and that people live out in the country who also have lives to lead?

Where was the pledge to improve rural public transport?"

The housing market and eco-issues

Anthony Bulley, magaing director of Wiltshire-wide estate agent Straker Goodman Ingram, feels the tax breaks for zero carbon homes mentioned in the budget will pave the way for new legislation in the future.

He said: "This ties in very much with the Energy Performance Certificates, which will be the requirement for each home sold from June 1, making us more aware of energy replacement.

"I guess dropping the stamp duty until 2012 on zero carbon homes is a taster of where the legislation will take us.

Sharon Charity, senior communications officer for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, added: "Tackling climate change has to be the government's most urgent priority, and we're delighted to see a strong green streak running through the Budget.

"One of the most important areas where we can all make a difference is in cutting the carbon emissions of our homes, so it's excellent news that the government is freezing stamp duty on all new low-carbon homes until 2012 and increasing tax on the most polluting cars.

Commenting on today's Budget, Stuart Bernau, executive director at Swindon-based Nationwide Building Society, is also a fan of the stamp duty measure but has reservations overall.

He said: "While Nationwide welcomes the stamp duty concession for carbon neutral homes, we feel that it is important to do more to help hard-pressed homebuyers.

"We have calculated that if the stamp duty threshold had been raised in line with house price inflation since 1993 it would now stand at £206,000 and we are disappointed, therefore, that the Chancellor has decided not to increase the level where the one per cent charge kicks in."

He has also praised the new ISA measures announced, which will also first time save for their own home.

He added: "As one of the UK's leading savings providers, Nationwide welcomes the fact that the Chancellor has responded to our call for an increase in the ISA limits.

"We hope in the future that the Chancellor will index-link the limits to ensure that they retain their value over time and therefore encourage even more people to save."

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