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What to expect in the UK Budget?
According to the Independent, measures expected to be unveiled at the UK budget include a “mansion tax” on homes valued at over £2m and an increase to bank taxes in the UK. Household energy bills are also expected to see their biggest rise in four years in January, with a typical annual bill forecast to jump by £276.Healey has announced that standing charges on household gas bills will be scrapped for around 23 million homes. These are fixed daily fees that households must pay regardless of how much gas they use, averaging £108 a year. The government said energy regulator Ofgem will aim to remove the charges in 2027, or “as soon as possible after”.
The government also plans to remove tariffs on 100 food items, which it estimates could save households up to £21 a year, or around 40p a week, when combined with tariff suspensions introduced in June.
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Taxes on online sellers like Amazon, eBay?
Labour backbenchers and trade unions have been pushing the government to increase taxes on online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay. Andy Haldane, a former adviser to Burnham, urged Healey to make online businesses pay more tax so they compete fairly with traditional high-street shops, reports The Guardian. One proposal could raise up to an extra £1 billion by requiring online marketplaces to collect VAT on behalf of large sellers based in the UK as well as those overseas.The money could be used to reduce business rates for small high-street shops. One option is to raise the threshold at which businesses start paying these taxes from £12,000 to £18,000. This would help small business owners and entrepreneurs, whom Healey has said he wants to support.
Speculations are also rife that alcohol duty is likely to rise in line with the retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation, which will increase the tax on a pint from 50p to 52p. Healey, who resigned as Keir Starmer’s defence secretary in a row over defence funding, is also set to announce billions in extra spending for the sector according to the Sunday Times.