Chancellor Alistair Darling Talks About the 2010 Budget

According to new reports, Chancellor Alistair Darling announced information about the 2010 UK budget this past Wednesday. Many things were included in the budget, but there are a few things that have really been catching the media’s attention.

According the the budget, there will be a planned 2.76p increase in fuel duty. This is suppose to be introduced next month and will be phased in to reduce the impact. This move, which may add as much as £2 to the cost of refilling a large car, means duty will rise by 1p in April, 1p in October and the remaining 0.76p in January of 2011.

Darling said that, by the time the full duty increase comes into play, it should be right in line with inflation. Fuel duty will also be increasing by 1p per liter in real terms on April 1 each year from 2011 to 2014.

This decision follows a warning from the AA last week that petrol prices were set to hit a record high of £1.24 a liter by Easter. The average price of petrol has shot up about 4p a liter in the past few months, causing it to reach its highest level since July 2008.

Also, the budget will be cracking down on tax cheaters who use offshore tax havens to hide their income. They are being targeted with a wide ranging package of anti-avoidance measures, which will raise £500 million and protect tax revenues of £4 billion. To help identify these tax avoiders, the government will be signing tax information exchange agreements with three different havens: Grenada, Belize, and Dominica.