Statements for tax payers, loans to small business and we may have to pay to use cashpoints…all this plus jobs in sewers, in today’s PressChoice business summary.
FINANCIAL TIMES
TAXPAYERS TO RECEIVE PERSONAL STATEMENTS
By Chris Giles and Vanessa Houlder
Income tax payers will receive a personal statement next year in an effort to increase the transparency of government financing and stir public resentment at the level of taxes and borrowing, the Treasury said. Conservative MPs hope that by detailing how the income tax and national insurance paid by each taxpayer is spent, light will be cast on the proportion of the government’s budget spent on social security and pressure will grow on politicians to reduce wealth redistribution. The Treasury outlined proposals for the tax statement in November, saying it was an effort to increase transparency and peoples’ engagement with their tax affairs. Officials confirmed on Tuesday that the government would begin sending statements to every household next financial year and would include the amount of income tax and national insurance paid, along with a split of that money according to the breakdown of government spending.
DAILY MAIL
TRUTH ABOUT YOUR TAX BILL: EVERYONE TO GET STATEMENT REVEALING THIRD OF TAX GOES ON WELFARE
By James Chapman
Every taxpayer is to get a personal annual statement revealing how each pound taken from them by the Revenue is spent. George Osborne will announce the radical move in tomorrow’s Budget, saying every worker has the right to know how their taxes are spent once the money enters the public purse. In some cases, the results are likely to prove startling. A higher-rate taxpayer earning £50,000 this year would be told they paid £14,183 in tax and National Insurance – of which around a third, £4,727.67, is spent on welfare. At the same time, £2,469.68 is spent on health, £1,848.73 on education, £818.52 on defence and £705.62 on public order and safety. A further £141.12 is given to foreign aid and £70.56 is handed to the EU.
THE INDEPENDENT
OSBORNE'S BIG PLAN: £20BN FOR SMALL BUSINESS
By Andrew Grice & Ben Chu
George Osborne will pledge to remove a crucial barrier to Britain's economic recovery today by offering £20bn of government-backed, low-cost loans to small firms.
After failing to persuade the banks to release more of their cash reserves to boost the flatlining economy, the Chancellor will announce that companies with a turnover of up to £50m will be able to apply for the first £5bn tranche of loans from today. Banks taking part in the credit easing scheme will provide loans one percentage point lower than they would otherwise have been. Government guarantees will allow the banks to borrow at lower rates and they will pass this on to the small firms.
THE GUARDIAN
GEORGE OSBORNE LAUNCHES NEW SCHEME TO BOOST LENDING TO BUSINESSES
By Larry Elliott, Economics Editor
Britain's small and medium sized businesses will see the interest rate on new loans fall by one percentage point from Tuesday under the government's long-awaited plan to boost lending.
Announcing details of a Treasury credit-easing scheme, George Osborne said the coalition's tough action to reduce Britain's budget deficit was allowing it to provide up to £20bn in loan guarantees for enterprises with a turnover of £50m or less…
Five banks – Barclays, Santander, Lloyds, RBS and the much smaller Aldermore – will participate in the scheme, although one of the UK's biggest banks, HSBC, has decided not to take part.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
BUDGET 2012: DELAY TACTIC 'TO COST TREASURY BILLIONS IN TAX'
By Louise Armitstead
Top earners are already seeking advice on how to defer income, bonuses and dividends until 2013 in anticipation of George Osborne's Budget on Wednesday.
Instead of deferring the measure, the Chancellor should reduce the top rate to 45p immediately - or risk losing tax revenues, incurring higher borrowing costs and compounding the 50p tax fiasco, the accountants warned.
Ian Gorham, chief executive of Hargreaves Lansdown, told The Daily Telegraph: "The Chancellor needs to be decisive and any tax cuts should take effect immediately. Announcing a tax cut that only starts in April 2013 is almost certainly a bad idea.
THE GUARDIAN
BUDGET WILL HIT RICH INSISTS COALITION
By Patrick Wintour, Political Editor
The government claimed that the rich will pay twice as much as they win back through the abolition of the 50p rate of income tax, as a Guardian poll showed the scale of the political gamble being taken by the coalition through the decision to cut the top rate.
As the Liberal Democrats seek to protect themselves from the charge that the coalition is imposing austerity on everyone but the "growth-generating rich", Nick Clegg's party view it as vital to get the message across that the wealthy will end up paying more.
Government sources said figures published alongside the budget would show the impact of an initial 5p cut in income tax for those earning £150,000 or more would be more than offset by changes to stamp duty, a general anti-avoidance tax rule and a tycoon tax. One source said it would be more than a two-to-one ratio, seen as key to the Lib Dem wing of the coalition.
FINANCIAL TIMES
OBR RAISES FORECAST FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH
By Chris Giles, Economics Editor
Forecasts for the UK economy will be revised a touch higher in the Budget on Wednesday, as the Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to follow recent more optimistic moves by private sector economists.
The last time the independent OBR produced a forecast was at the height of the eurozone crisis in late November and private sector forecasts, collected by Consensus Economics, have become slightly more optimistic since.
DAILY EXPRESS
END OF FREE CASHPOINTS
By Nathan Rao
Bank customers face being charged every time they take money from a cashpoint, it emerged last night.
The future of free banking is in doubt over plans to pass on higher regulatory costs to customers. Charges could even be levied for setting up standing orders and direct debits. The high street banks’ threat sparked fury last night with campaigners accus- ing them of “using their customers” rather than providing a service.
FINANCIAL TIMES
APPLE DOWNLOADS $45BN TO SHAREHOLDERS
By Richard Waters & Chris Nuttall in San Francisco, and Tim Bradshaw in London
Apple outlined plans on Monday to pay its first dividend in 17 years as the US technology group, sitting on a cash pile estimated to exceed $100bn, conceded it could not return cash to shareholders as quickly as it was generating it. America’s biggest company by market value promised to return about $45bn to shareholders over the next three years, including $10bn to be spent buying back shares. But the payments are unlikely to prevent the further rapid escalation of its cash mountain, which grew $38bn last year alone.
THE SUN
WHY AFRICAN ECONOMIES ARE OUTPACING THE UK’S
By Steve Hawkes, Business Editor
It’s the last place in the world you might expect to find green shoots, so whisper it quietly — Ethiopia is starting to boom.Its economy, though still small, is now growing nearly tentimes faster than our own in the UK. And it's not just Ethiopia — seared into the West's minds by the 1985 famine which sparked Live Aid — that is being transformed. Ghana's output, or GDP, is expected to rise by nine per cent in 2012 — almost rivalling that of China. Zambia, whose footballers won the Africa Cup of Nations last month, is storming the economic league too. In all, seven of the world's top ten fastest growing economies between now and 2015 will come from Africa. The growth rates across the continent are distorted by how poor the countries have been until now.
DAILY MAIL
YOUNG WILL HAVE TO WAIT LONGER TO BUY AS NEW HOUSE PRICE BOOM IS ON THE WAY, SAYS BANK OF ENGLAND
By Becky Barrow
Britain could face another house price boom, fuelled by the ageing population and the rising number of immigrants, a Bank of England expert said yesterday.
In a research paper, Professor David Miles predicted ‘a rising trajectory for real house prices’.
His report comes as the average asking price in one exclusive corner of London, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, hit £2million for the first time.
A decade ago, the average asking price in the area was £650,600, which means it has trebled in ten years.
THE TIMES
SUPERSEWER ‘WILL CREATE THOUSANDS OF JOBS’
By Robert Lea, Industrial Editor
Business leaders and unions in London have thrown their weight behind a £4 billion “supersewer”, despite local opposition and the prospect of higher water bills for householders.
The 7-metre wide tunnel stretching 15 miles from West London to Docklands is a critically important infrastructure scheme that will end sewage discharges into the Thames and lead to the creation of about 9,000 jobs in the capital, MPs will be told.
In a report to be launched in Parliament today London First, the business organisation, and the TUC will urge the Government to proceed with the scheme, which George Osborne has signalled is one of the country’s most important infrastructure projects.
THE SCOTSMAN
SCOTS CITIES SLIDE DOWN CHART OF THE WORLD’S TOP FINANCIAL CENTRES
By Erikka Askeland
Scotland’s two biggest cities have slipped further down the rankings of a global financial centres index as the country struggles to overcome the damage to its reputation caused by the financial crisis.
Edinburgh’s fortunes as a world financial powerhouse have slumped dramatically since it was ranked number 15 on the inaugural Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) in 2007. In the latest issue of the biannual report, it is now reduced to 37th on the list behind Copenhagen and Kuala Lumpur.
Glasgow’s influence in global finance has suffered a similar fate, although it didn’t have so far to decline. It fell eight points in the latest listing to be ranked 41, after making its debut at a high of 22 in the first half of 2008.
