 | Budget
Statement on Wednesday 18th March The Budget Statement 2015 made
in the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, on
Wednesday 18th March provided an
update on the Governments
plans for the economy based on the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget
Responsibility. These forecasts are published alongside the Budget Statement.
Full details of those announcements are available on the HM Treasury website
following the Chancellor's statement to Parliament but as usual we have a prompt
report on the measures announced which will be of interest to the classic motoring
enthusiast.
As
usual we have a prompt report on the Budget Statement within an hour or so of
the Chancellor sitting down in the House of Commons. | Headlines
for for classic car motoring
Fuel
Duty - the RPI inflation Fuel Duty increase due to apply from September has
been cancelled.
Vehicle
Excise Duty rates and bands - from 1st April 2015 Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)
rates for cars, vans, motorcycles and motorcycle trade licences will increase
by RPI. (Finance Bill 2015)
Vehicle Excise Duty classic vehicle
exemption - as announced at Budget 2014, from 1st April 2016 a vehicle manufactured
before 1st January 1976 will be exempt from paying VED.
Alcohol Duty
rates - from 23rd March 2015, the duty rates on general beer, spirits and
lower strength cider will be reduced by 2%. | Chancellor
George Osborne delivered his last Budget statement of the current UK Parliament
less than two months before the date of the General Election on 7th May. His
statement provided an update on the economy, including tax announcements,came
just weeks before Parliament breaks up at the start of campaigning ahead of the
poll.
Why
does the Chancellor hold the "Red Box" up for photos as he leaves for
the House of Commons on Budget day?
See below
Full details of the Budget announcements
are available on the HM Treasury website
released following the Chancellor's statement to Parliament.
Budget
2015 document from HM Treasury. More
Preview
of the Budget Statement 2015 See our preview. More
| What
did we see in the Budget Statement 2015 for classic car motoring?
Fuel
Duty The government will cancel the RPI inflation Fuel Duty increase of
0.54 pence per litre scheduled for 1st September 2015. The effect is the fuel
duty increase planned by the previous Labour government and due to apply from
September 2015 has been cancelled. The aggregate saving for drivers is now around
£10 per tank of fuel.
Vehicle Excise Duty rates and bands From
1st April 2015 Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates for cars, vans, motorcycles and
motorcycle trade licences will increase by RPI. (Finance Bill 2015)
Vehicle
Excise Duty classic vehicle exemption As announced at Budget 2014, from
1st April 2016 a vehicle manufactured before 1st January 1976 will be exempt from
paying VED. (Finance Bill 2015)
|
Alcohol
Duty rates From 23rd March 2015, the duty rates on general beer, spirits
and lower strength cider will be reduced by 2%. The duty rate on low strength
beer will be reduced by 6% and the total duty rate on high strength beer will
be reduced by 0.75%. The duty rate on high strength still cider will be reduced
by 1.3% and the duty rates on wine below 22% abv and high strength sparkling
cider will be frozen. (Finance Bill 2015) (9,10)
Over
the last four years we have seen fuel duty frozen and VED exemption
reintroduced for classic car owners, both measures that have been a real benefit
for classic car enthusiasts.
See our VED exemption guide and flowchart.
More Will the VED
roll on as promised? More | Posted:
150318 @ 1405 | What
did we see in previous Budgets and Autumn Statements? | See
our earlier reports and links to HM Treasury and HMRC webpages. More
Why
does the Chancellor hold the "Red Box" up for photos as he leaves for
the House of Commons on Budget day? Seeing the red case on the news item
reminds me of an article in a newspaper today which recounts how in 1868 George
Ward Hunt, the chancellor in Disraeli's short lived government, went to the House
of Commons but left his budget speech behind at home. Now chancellors lift the
red box as they leave their "house" to show they haven't forgotten their
speech.
| Autumn
Statement 2014 The
headlines for classic car enthusiasts in the Autumn Statement or "Mini Budget"
on Wednesday 3rd December 2014 were: > Motor fuel duty frozen
in 2015 - George Osborne said "despite falling fuel prices let me make
this clear: we've cut fuel duty and we will keep it frozen." >
Road building to deal
with a number of bottlenecks
on the A1 in the north and the A303 - the Government has committed £15 billion
to improve the national road network. Green campaigners have railed against Chancellor
George Osborne's Autumn Statement, slamming its "1980's-style road building
programme and tax breaks for fossil fuel giants". Are there tax breaks for
open-toed sandals! > Motorway fuel price comparison signs
the government will install electronic signs showing fuel price comparisons
on the M5 between Bristol and Exeter during 2015. (Para 2.240, p 90 HM Treasury
document.).
VAT
- no change No increase in the VAT rate was announced but equally no reduction
from the current 20% either. Insurance tax No change which
could have had an impact on classic car motor policies. The standard rate of 6%
(Jan 2011 - April 2012) remained at 6% for 2012-13 and continues for 2014-15.
See page B18 of the HMRC document. Tax
rates & allowances Annex B
More
from earlier Budget Statements
Vehicle
Excise Duty (VED) In the Budgets 2013 and 2014 classic
car enthusiasts saw very welcome news with VED exemption concessions, so now the
concern for enthusiasts with cars built after 1974, which do not yet benefit from
the exemption, is the VED rates and bands that apply to their classic car
and daily cars.
VED
rates and bands The Budget Statement in March 2013 announced that from
1st April 2013 VED rates would increase in line with RPI, apart from VED rates
for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) which will be frozen in 2013-14. The Statement
added the Government has no plans to make significant reforms to the structure
of VED for cars and vans in this Parliament. So from 1st April 2014, VED rates
are likely to continue to increase in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
According the previous announcements, the Government has shelved its plans to
reform to the structure of VED bands for cars and vans in this Parliament. So
the bands will remain. (Para: 2.146, page 83).
HM Treasury
VED
exemption now a rolling concession
In the Budget 2014 in March, tucked away on page 76 of the support document released
by HM Treasury shortly after the Chancellor sat down, was the welcome brief announcement
"the Government will introduce a rolling 40 year VED exemption for classic
vehicles from 1st April 2014". (Para
2.153, page 76). That
rolling VED exemption followed the earlier announcement in the support document
issued by HM Treasury shortly after the Budget Statement made in March 2013
that the Government would extend the cut off date from which classic vehicles
are exempt from VED by one year. So making it a rolling feature was very good
news. See our additional information on VED exemption. VED
exemption guide & flowchart
& More
| Abolishing
the paper tax disc and payment of road tax by Direct Debit These measures
were confirmed as part of a simplification of VED administration and were introduced
by DVLA in October 2014. See our NEWS reports. More
& More
Fuel
duty In March 2014 the Chancellor confirmed the 2p fuel duty increase
due in September 2014 would be frozen. This followed the announcement in the Autumn
Statement 2013 that as well as scrapping that increase, George Osborne confirmed
that no further rise would take place until at least May 2015 to ease the cost
of motoring for the general public and UK business. To date, fuel duty has now
been frozen for over four years, the longest duty freeze for over 20 years. Since
their election in 2011, the Coalition has cancelled or delayed all the fuel duty
rises that had been announced by the previous Labour administration.
However
by scrapping all intended rises in duty over the last four years, the Treasury
has sacrificed £22 billion of potential tax revenue; a loss which will have
to be balanced by cuts elsewhere in the economy.
With falling motor
fuel prices at filling stations, the tax take as a percentage of the price per
litre has risen. There is pressure to reduce that percentage with a consequent
reduction in the combined taxes and duty. With lower pump prices pleasing the
motorist the likelihood of a reduction in either tax or duty on motor fuel seems
slim.
Falling fuel prices With the fall in crude oil prices
motor fuel prices have been falling driven in many cases by supermarket filling
stations - supermarkets are experiencing the most intense market battle for many
years and attracting customers has become an essential need. Using low motor fuel
prices is a tactic they use which is a benefit to the motorist as it puts pressure
on leading petrol retailers to consider their fuel prices too and often reduce
them. Pothole
repair fund Classic car enthusiasts have reported some heavy suspension
crashes with the ever increasing pothole problem, so they welcomed the good news
in the last Budget Statement that a £200m pothole repair fund was being
established. This will mean councils will be able to bid for money to repair roads
ravaged by the winter floods. The current estimate for repairs mentioned in the
Budget 2014 was£400 million, on top of the £10.5 billion repair backlog
that already exists. (Para
2.28, page 63)
| V8
Register - MG Car Club - the
leading group for MG V8 enthusiasts at www.v8register.net |
|
|