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Helping Business
I have said several times in this speech that the Government's aim is to turn Britain into the enterprise centre of Europe. [Interruption.] That is where we are going. We are encouraging more innovation, investment and growth. That means allowing people to keep more of the income that they earn, and I shall have more to say about that in a moment. It means encouraging people to save more, to invest more and to build up more personal wealth. It also means helping small businesses. The backbone of our modern, dynamic, successful economy is an active small business sector. Small businesses are the seedcorn of our future prosperity.
I have some important measures this year to help businesses, and small businesses in particular.
First is help with business rates. Many businesses faced lower rates bills following the five-yearly revaluation of rateable values, but many others faced higher bills. To help that group, I announced in last year's Budget that real terms increases in rates bills would be capped to a maximum of 10 per cent. a year. I have looked at that cap again and I no longer consider it to be low enough. For 1996-97, the maximum real terms increase in rates bills for all businesses will be reduced from 10 per cent. to 7½ per cent. Small businesses will get extra help. The maximum increase for small properties will be 5 per cent. instead of 7½ per cent. One million two hundred thousand business properties will benefit from those changes, including 870,000 small properties.
Investment is important for prosperity. Investment depends on capital. We want to reduce taxes on capital to encourage and reward the investment that the millions of people who work for private businesses depend on. We remain committed to abolishing capital gains tax when resources allow.
The starting point must be help for those who have built up their own businesses and want to be sure that they can sell up and enjoy the rewards of their own hard work in managing the business that they own. Tax relief for the owners of businesses selling up on retirement was substantially increased in 1991 and again in 1993, so that capital gains of up to £1 million now benefit from that relief. This year I am going to extend further the relief for owners who have worked hard and created their own businesses by reducing the qualifying age from 55 to 50.
That will reward the success of more of those who own and manage their own business. It will increase incentives for those who are going to work in their own business in the future. It is the mark of a Government who back enterprise. [Interruption.] If I repeat it often enough, the Labour party might eventually at least discover how to spell it. At the moment, it is not up to speed on it in any other way.
It is not just businesses that create wealth. Thanks to this Government's policies, ordinary hard-working people have a bigger personal stake in the wealth of this country than ever before. In our property-owning democracy, more and more people have the opportunity to own their own homes, have occupational or personal pensions, invest in TESSAs and PEPs, build up other savings and own shares. Those benefits are now being enjoyed by the many and not just the few.
Many people who do not consider themselves rich work hard and save for their families throughout their whole lives. They pay their taxes when they work. They want to pass on their family capital without having it taxed again when they die. Many people want to pass on an inheritance to their children and their grandchildren to give them a better start in life than they had. That is a natural instinct in families. Inheritance is now an issue for middle Britain. It is to help middle Britain that we aim to abolish inheritance tax as soon as we can afford to do so.
It is a myth that inheritance tax is paid only by the very rich. In fact, the very rich are well placed to dispose of their wealth in their own lifetime. Most people hit by inheritance tax are those who would not consider themselves rich at all. These are people who bequeath not much more than the present tax-free allowance of
£154,000. They may be people who own their home and a few modest investments. There are many more people like them who fear that their assets will be hit by inheritance tax. I therefore propose to increase the tax-free allowance substantially to £200,000. The number paying inheritance tax will be reduced by one third and only one in 45 estates will now pay that tax.
Inheritance tax can also have a direct effect on enterprise. A family company, for example, may have to be broken up when the owner dies. We already recognise that problem through the existence of business property relief for qualifying unquoted companies. I now propose to remove the problem altogether by extending 100 per cent. relief to unquoted shareholdings, whatever their size.
Income Tax
Finally, I turn to my proposals for income tax payers. In the post-war era, when Britain went into comparative economic decline, Britain had high rates of taxation on income. Those rates damaged the economy and stifled prosperity. We had a tax policy that was based on envy.
When this Government came to power, the basic rate was 33 per cent. The top rate on earnings was 83 per cent. Rates on so-called unearned income were as high as 98 per cent. There was nothing fair about taxation before we started to make it fairer. During the past 16 years, we have cut the basic rate by around one quarter to 25 per cent. and abolished all rates of income tax above 40 per cent.
But the income tax burden is about more than just tax rates. Tax allowances matter as well. I propose to increase allowances for married couples and people receiving related allowances by £70, in line with indexation. It is a myth that the tax system penalises marriage and that single people are better off than married couples within the British taxation system. Any young couple contemplating living together and starting a family will pay less tax by getting married.
As the economy continues to grow and create jobs, more people, as they return to work, will find themselves earning more than the tax threshold. I believe that we should relieve as many of the lower-paid as possible from the burden of income tax. I therefore propose to increase the basic personal allowance by £240--that is £100 more than indexation. That will provide an incentive to work to those at the bottom of the income scale. More than 200,000 people will be kept out of tax, compared with indexation of allowances.
People who do not consider themselves rich now find that their incomes may bring them into the top rate of tax. That has a lot to do with the growth of the economy over 16 years and the growth in personal incomes. I do not want more people to be taken into the 40 per cent. band next year. I therefore propose to raise the higher rate threshold by £1,200--that is £200 more than indexation.
But in the longer term, of course, we have a clear and achievable goal for income tax--moving to a basic rate of 20 per cent. as soon as we can. This year, I can move much faster towards that goal. I propose to increase the 20 per cent. band by a further £700--that is £500 more than indexation. That will bring an extra 1 million people into that band. That means that around a quarter of all taxpayers--that is, over 6 million people--will pay tax on their income at just 20 per cent.
There were many who doubted the credibility of our goal of a 20p basic rate when we first set it out in 1992. We are now making big strides towards achieving it. Some people are even having to resort to trying to outbid us, I discovered in recent debates. But widening the lower rate band is not the only route to 20p. I want to make progress on another front. I therefore also propose to reduce the rate of tax on all savings income for all basic rate taxpayers to just 20 per cent. That will apply to the tax deducted from interest on bank and building society accounts, for example, and it is equivalent to an increase in interest rates for savings income. Around 14 million
savers will gain from that tax reduction and they will see the income from their savings increase. As a result of that measure, people will gain an extra £5 from every £100 they receive in interest from their building society account.
Many of those who benefit will be pensioners, who will gain £75 a year on average. Some could stand to gain
£500 a year or more. So, again, those who have earned and saved will be able to keep more of their own money and benefit more from their own money; and the measure is another and decisive step to a 20 per cent. basic rate for all income.
I propose to reduce the small companies rate of corporation tax to 24 per cent. The reason I am able to reduce the small companies rate of corporation tax is that the small companies rate has for many years been pegged to the basic rate of income tax. My final proposal in this Budget is therefore to reduce the basic rate of income tax by one penny to 24p in the pound. [Interruption.] It is no good laughing. That was the shortest smile, on the face of the hon. Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown), that I have seen even from him in a very long time, because these three steps--widening the 20p band, a 20p tax rate for savings income and a penny off the basic rate--move us much closer to a 20 per cent. base rate of tax for all income. We have a clear commitment--[Interruption.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. The House should listen to the Chancellor.
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