Meeting the aspirations of the British people
The Government’s objective is to build a strong economy and a fair society, in which there is opportunity and security for all. This website provides a summary of the key announcements in the 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review including:
- making inheritance tax allowances transferrable between married couples and civil partners – £600,000 threshold immediately, rising to £700,000 by 2010-11;
- spending in the NHS will increase by 4 per cent per year in real terms from £90 billion in 2007-08 to £110 billion by 2010-11;
- spending on education will increase from £77.7 billion to £92 billion;
- further steps to tackle climate change including reforms to and increases in the taxation of air travel to better reflect environmental costs and a £1.2 billion Environmental Transformation Fund;
- steps to simplify the tax system and business support to enable business to focus on growing and innovating;
- reforming capital gains tax by introducing a single rate of 18 per cent from 2008-09, ensuring a more sustainable system that is straight-forward for tax payers and internationally competitive; and
- confirming the Government's public service priorities and setting all departments’ budgets for the next 3 years with total public spending set to grow at 2.1 per cent per year between 2007-08 and 2010-11.