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Speculation Grows on Budget Plans
At the top of the chancellor, Alastair Darling's, list for his first budget are likely to be green taxes and measures to help people who are struggling to pay energy bills.
There is also expected to be a raise in the duty on alcohol in an attempt to combat binge drinking.
There are demands from the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) who are calling for a "radical overhaul" of corporation taxes to make the UK more competitive.
Energy
The chancellor is expected to provide help for poor families who are being hit by high and increasing energy costs.
The expection is that he will force energy companies to reduce the difference in the charging schemes between customers who prepay for their services either via a card or a meter, and those customers who pay by direct debit in retrospect.
The general rule is that households who prepay for their energy are often low wage earners and pay an average of £140 more for their energy (even though they use the same amount as a post payment household) over the course of a year. This is expected to cut into the "excess" profits of £400m being generated by the country's energy companies from the country's poorest consumers.
There are also expected to be measures to cause carbon emissions from cars to be decreased and cause an increase in the use of biofuels.
There were reports at the weekend that larger cars such as people carries would carry a levy of £2,000 when purchased new, and that the pre-announced 2p rise in fuel will continue despite mounting opposition from hauliers.
Corporate Taxes
Richard Lambert the director general of the CBI said a few years ago that Britain had one of the most favourable corporate tax systems in the world, but that has since, "Our traditional tax system is no longer fit for purpose. We need bold action to restore a competitive headline rate of corporate tax." He continued, "A radical shake-up is also vital if clarity, certainty and simplicity are to be reintroduced to the system so firms can make Britain their long term home..." and added "Knee-jerk retrospective changes is no way to manage a tax system".
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