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Profit-related Pay
The tax relief that the Government introduced in 1987 to promote profit-related pay schemes has been a success. It has played a key role in reinforcing the Government's strong beliefs that employees' rewards should depend on the success of the business for which they work.
I have always believed, and have argued publicly for many years, that in a modern enterprise economy people's pay should be closely linked to the performance of the business for which they work. The best way for businesses to motivate their staff is to let them share in the rewards of success. I am delighted that tax reliefs have helped to get that idea accepted so widely.
Tax relief on profit-related pay was always intended to be a pump-priming measure, and it was introduced in very different circumstances. In the 1986 Green Paper, Nigel Lawson said:
I can no longer justify the ever increasing cost of the tax relief to the 22 million taxpayers who are not in profit-related pay schemes. We cannot permanently divide the work force into groups of people who pay different levels of tax on the same earnings depending on whether the firm that they work for is in a scheme or not. The aim of the relief--a widespread use of PRP--has been achieved, and I would rather make faster progress on lower taxes for everybody. We have changed the culture.
Good managers in today's enterprise economy no longer need a tax relief to know that pay should be linked to their firm's performance. Pay linked to profits produces it own rewards on the bottom line in a thriving economy.
I shall describe to the House how the Government will start to withdraw this special tax relief. I intend to do that gradually, so I must ensure that businesses which need to adjust their pay packages and their sharing of the rewards of success have ample time to make those adjustments.
The upper limit of pay attracting the relief will remain unchanged at its present £4,000 until 1998, which means that no one will be affected before then. [Hon. Members: "In time for a general election."] But during the lifetime of a Conservative Government. It will then be progressively reduced until the year 2000, when the relief will be withdrawn altogether.
Investment is vital to our recovery, and business investment is now growing strongly. The tax system recognises investment through capital allowances. These allow the cost of investment to be written off against tax bills, frequently faster than it is written off in commercial accounts. But within that system, for plant and machinery with a long lifespan, the rate at which costs can be written
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I propose changing the capital allowance for plant and machinery with a life of more than 25 years to 6 per cent. on a reducing balance basis. That will spread the tax relief more evenly over the average life of these assets. Groups spending less than £100,000 a year on such assets will be exempt. This will mean that the vast majority of small companies will not be affected. Ships and railways will also be exempt.
I also propose to withdraw the 100 per cent. corporation tax deduction for the intangible costs of drilling most production oil wells.
The Government recognise that low marginal tax rates on income are a spur to hard work and enterprise. Taxes on spending do less damage to effort and enterprise than taxes on income, but the balance of the taxes that we do impose on spending must be right, and I am making some changes to taxes which help to move towards a better balance for the tax system as a whole.
I propose to increase insurance premium tax, which applies to most general insurance, to 4 per cent. Three quarters of all insurance--including life insurance, and other long-term insurance--will remain exempt. Insurance remains undertaxed for consumers compared with other services in this country.
The introduction of the tax--I made it a very low rate--did not harm the healthy insurance industry that we have. Most companies absorbed the tax, and some premiums actually fell for a time. Even after this further modest change--which I think is lower than many people expected--the overall rate of insurance premium tax in the UK remains very low, lower than in almost any other European Union country.
Air travel has also been undertaxed, because it has proved difficult--still proves difficult--to get international agreement to tax its fuel. The rates of air passenger duty are to be increased. The £5 rate on flights to most European countries will be increased to £10, and the £10 rate on flights to the rest of the world will be increased to £20. Those increases will not come into effect until 1 November 1997. [Laughter.] I realise that we are all thinking of a forthcoming election, but the reason why the Opposition cannot produce a responsible economic policy is plainly that they are obsessive about it. The very good reason for delaying until November 1997 is to give tour operators who have already sold their packages time to reflect the new rates in the prices that they publish in their holiday brochures. I announce necessary things before an election. That is responsibility; that is what is totally lacking among Opposition Members, who seem to propose to announce nothing whatever of any substance, apart from a windfall tax, this side of the election.
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Business travel is soaring, and the holiday business is booming at the moment in prosperous Britain. This modest change will not stop it booming in future prosperous years. About 40 per cent. of the revenue raised by passenger tax is borne by overseas visitors.
I am making the same changes to the main vehicle excise duties this year as I did last year. The cost of a car tax disc will go up by £5, around the rate of inflation. The cost of a lorry tax disc will be frozen for the seventh year in succession.
I firmly believe that motorists should bear the full costs of driving--not only wear and tear and congestion on the roads, but the wider environmental costs. Even those of us who frequently have to drive--and, contrary to rumours that Ministers always travel in limousines, that includes most hon. Members--can take steps to cut fuel consumption and we all ought to consider carefully the use of our car.
I intend to stick to my 1993 Budget commitment to raise road fuel duties by an average of at least 5 per cent. each year in real terms. In line with this, I am raising the tax on all petrol and diesel by 3p per litre from 6 o'clock tonight. Those tax rises will encourage fuel efficiency and help to control harmful pollution.
I am glad to say that pollution from vehicles is already coming down, helped by tax measures in previous Budgets. The tax measures that we took to encourage unleaded petrol were a huge success. It now accounts for two thirds of the petrol market. I want to go further in this Budget for green purposes or, to put it more sensibly, to attack pollution in cities and to improve air quality by effective steps to reduce particulate emissions--the smoke produced by diesel engines.
In recent years, new evidence has come to light strengthening the health arguments for reducing particulates. This pollution is being reduced, but we all want to see it being reduced further and faster.
Ultra-low sulphur diesel is cleaner than ordinary diesel and it is slightly more expensive to produce, so I want to create the conditions where ultra-low sulphur diesel can cost the same at the pump as ordinary diesel. I have just said that I am increasing the tax on diesel by the same amount as petrol. I plan to reduce the duty on ultra-low sulphur diesel by 1p per litre relative to ordinary diesel, when I get the necessary international agreement.
I also want to encourage high-mileage vehicles in our towns and cities to switch to cleaner gas power. Last year's Budget changes broadly equalised the pump prices of liquid gas and petrol. From 6 o'clock tonight, I am reducing the duty on road fuel gases by a further 25 per cent.
I also intend to reduce vehicle excise duty by up to £500 for lorries meeting very stringent emissions standards from early 1998. That will give an incentive for lorry owners to fit particulate traps or to convert to gas power. We will be consulting on the practical details of those changes.
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I believe that this air quality package will significantly speed up the reduction of urban emissions of particulates, helping us to meet our air quality targets for 2005 and beyond. We intend to ensure that the economic growth that we are achieving faster than others in this country is consistent with a healthy environment and with sustainable development as we become one of the most successful economies in the western world.
"There is considerable inertia to overcome, so it might make sense to offer some temporary measure of tax relief."
Profit-related pay is now firmly established as part of British businesses' pay policy. It is one of the reasons for our success. More than 3.7 million people are in schemes. Ten years on, the temporary tax incentive has successfully served its pump-priming purpose.
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