This article appeared in the The Press on Thursday 22nd March 2007.

An expert’s analysis…

Duncan Meredith Senior Tax Consultant

DUNCAN MEREDITH, pictured, tax expert for York accountants Garbutt & Elliott, looks in detail beyond the headlines of Gordon Brown’s 11 th Budget.

YOU can never be sure whether taxes have really gone up immediately after the Chancellor makes a Budget speech, but the suspicion tends to be that they have.

The signs were some tax grabbing would be going on in (surely) Gordon Brown’s final Budget.

Expectations were fuelled by rumours of a tax on hotel beds and talk of the Treasury raiding dormant bank accounts while apparently, in contrast, there is still not enough money getting through for hospitals.

In the previous ten Budgets, the total tax has more than doubled, so the big question was, would this one buck the trend?

This time, the overall effects appear neutral but there will be individual winners and losers.

However, that means the higher tax burden of the last ten years remains.

As ever, it was a confident performance, with plenty of statistics to prove how well the country is doing with the Chancellor at the helm. But the increase in public borrowing is a cause for concern.

Extra taxes have been raised from the doubling of air passenger duty from February and from a string of anti-avoidance measures intended to close down schemes.

But some of the new legislation appears to be far reaching and may cause some business uncertainty.

It was not all bad news, as tax credits are definitely here to stay and will be increased again.

The phased uplift in the inheritance tax nil rate band will help a little, but where was the real support for the many homeowners who are facing inheritance tax charges on their modest estates.

The headline reduction in basic rate tax to 20 per cent in April 2008 will be paid for by the abolition of the ten percent ban and extra National Insurance charged on middle income earners.

However, elderly tax payers got a boost in personal allowances, to offset the doubling of their tax rate to 20 per cent.