UK budget update
Alistair Darling, the chancellor, is going to:
- Increase green taxes
- Reform tax on heavy carbon-emitting cars. Cars that emit more than 121 grams of CO2 a kilometer will be hit hardest.
- Planned 2p rise on fuel postponed until October
- Showroom tax comes in fro April 2010. New car tax bands for CO2 April 2009
- Give energy subsidies for poor people and pensioners. £400 benefit for over 80s. Lower tarrifs for prepay meter users.
- Growth forecast cut
- Inflation will return to 2% in 2009
- Spending on child poverty up £1.9bn
- Changes to capital gains tax to go ahead
- Booze duties go up 6% (bastard) and will go up 2% every year for the next bit
I heard the tail-end of a report on C4 news yesterday, where the story was that the Chancellor also slipped in a statement that carbon credits for energy generators would be auctioned in a few years time, rather than given. Does that mean that credits under EU ETS phase III will be auctioned? If so, quite right!