Fairness and opportunity for all
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and opportunity for all to ensure that everyone shares in rising national prosperity. The 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review sets out the steps the Government is taking to promote employment opportunity for all, tackle child poverty, support families to balance their work and family lives and promote saving and ensuring security for all in old age. These include:
- ensuring that all married couples and civil partners can benefit from double the standard inheritance tax allowance - £600,000 immediately, rising to £700,000 by 2010-11 in addition to full spouse relief;
- raising the child element of the Child Tax Credit by a further £25 in April 2008 and a further £25 in April 2010;
- the national roll-out from April 2008 of the In-Work Credit at a rate of £40, retaining a rate of £60 in London;
- investment in education that will deliver a Sure Start centre in every community by 2010 and extend one-to-one care tuition in English and maths;
- 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 to tax-payers and internationally competitive;
- reforms to the residence and domicile rules to make the current arrangements operate more fairly; and
- further reforms to modernise the tax system, and a number of measures to clamp down on tax fraud and avoidance.
