Tax allowances freeze as Budget looks for balance
PERSONAL income tax allowances are set to be frozen for two years as part of a string of initiatives in the 2015 Budget that Treasury hopes will see the States finally balance its books.
The measures, put forward by the department to take in an additional £8.95m. from taxpayers, would see the extension of the 10% intermediate income tax rate to licensed fund administration businesses, an increase in TRP and the expected increases in duty on cigarettes, alcohol and fuel.
But minister Gavin St Pier said the Budget also included, for the first time, three-year financial planning, predicting no real-terms growth in income tax receipts, a further year's freeze on personal income tax allowances, income from new transport-related taxes, and the delivery of all identified FTP benefits.
'Last year's Budget for us was a case of steady as she goes and was billed as boring by others,' he said.
'This is a very different Budget and very much about long-term planning.
'The budgeting process has traditionally looked at one year at a time, this is seeking to take a long-term approach to a number of key issues to create firm building blocks for the fiscal position of the island in the future.'
