The Chancellor's first Pre-Budget Report has said that inheritance tax threshold for couples will rise to from £300,000 to £600,000 from today and then to £700,000 by 2010, in answer to the Conservative pledge to raise the threshold to £1m at their party conference last week. Mr Darling also predicted that UK economic growth is expected to be between 2% and 2.5% next year and 2.5% to 3% for 2009/2010. Mr Darling also said that loopholes for non-domiciled tax payers are to be considered following plans set out by the Conservative party last week: Mr Darling said Conservative plans to charge a flat rate of £25,000 to non-doms would mean only 15,000 paying, which would raise £650m a year, not the £3.5bn which was claimed by the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne. Under Labour, Mr Darling said that non-domicile taxpayers will face a charge after seven years and tax after ten in plans to be finalised and which would also raise £650m. Mr Darling also stated that the budget for Defra budget will rise to £4bn in three years' time, including £800m by 2010 for flood defences. For more visit www.treasury.gov.uk.
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Uniquely unique? The Yorkshire grain silos transformed into a home that's a symphony in glass, steel and curvesAmid the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire, on the edge of the Castle Howard Estate, The Silos is a property for which the word 'house' simply doesn't cut it. And that's not the only way in which it's made us throw out the dictionary.
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Polluting water executives now face up to two years in prison, but will the new laws make much of a difference?The Government has announced that water company executives caught covering up illegal sewage spills could now be imprisoned for two years, under new laws — but many still have their doubts.
