Pre-Budget report 2006 - Business
Resources
Osborne launches Brown broadside
The economic battlelines on which the Tories will seek to fight Gordon Brown at the general election clearly emerged as they attacked both his track record and his environmental credentials
Copyright proposals hit wrong note
The Gowers review failed to strike a chord with the music industry, which attacked its proposals on private copying and performers’ copyright terms.
Air passenger duty is doubled
Airlines and travel groups attacked the doubling of air passenger duty, accusing the chancellor of imposing a “poll tax on the skies” that would hurt ordinary travellers and be an ineffective way of tackling global warming
EU tax rules face court challenge
Tax advisers warn that the Treasury’s measures to limit the threat posed to corporate tax revenues by European court rulings will be challenged in court
Modest package of green tax rises
Motorists and air travellers bore the brunt of a modest package of green tax rises as Gordon Brown countered a Conservative push on the environment with action against polluters
Tougher penalties for rogue employers
Tougher measures to deal with rogue employers who illegally pay workers less than the minimum wage are to be introduced.
Gowers warns companies on illegal file sharing
Internet companies that fail to stop music piracy on sites they host could face a legislative clampdown, the author of a Treasury-commissioned intellectual property review warned.
Assault on avoidance to raise more than £1bn
More than £1bn extra tax will be raised by 2009-10 through a clampdown on ‘managed service company’ schemes, used by some workers to reduce their tax and national insurance bills.
£1bn for new health research body
Britain should aim to lead the world in developing new treatments and drugs, the chancellor said as he announced the government would set up a central body to oversee health research in hospitals and universities.
Brown sidesteps corporate tax issue
Business groups disappointed by chancellor’s failure to ease corporate taxes and concerned about whether plans to cut red tape will be followed through.
