Spring Budget 2017 – Initital Key Points
- Borrowing forecasts down this year and next from £59bn in 2017/18 to £58.3bn and from £46.5bn in 2018/19 to £40.8bn.
- Growth forecast for 2017 up from 1.4% to 2% but down from 1.7% to 1.6% in 2018.
- Reduction in corporation tax confirmed for April 2017 down to 19% with a further reduction down to 17% from April 2020.
- There is to be a consultation on business rates before the next scheduled revaluation. In the meantime 3 measures were announced to provide assistance to smaller businesses:
- Businesses coming out of the smaller rate relief will benefit from an additional cap – rates in the first year will not increase by more than £50 per month
- Local pubs with a rateable value below £100,000 will benefits from a £1,000 discount
- Local Authorities will be granted £300million to provide discretionary relief in cases of har