Business Car Manager: Editor’s Blog
SO, thanks Alistair Darling. From a purely selfish point of view, it was hardly life enhancing: fuel duty going up (and it’s already spectacularly expensive anyway); beer duty is going up (no chance to drown our sorrows, then); and wine duty is going up too (are there any pleasures left?).
Of course, it was a typical deftly delivered Darling Budget. Unlike his tub-thumping and prudent (oh yeah?) predecessor, Mr Darling delivers his spending plans and cuts in a monotonous grey tone that actually belies how carefully balanced it all is.
Whatever our criticisms, Darling was able to provide a fairly undisguised bit of wooing for the forthcoming election. It wasn’t quite as bad as it could have been. Or will be post election, we all suspect.
There was some good news for small businesses: the cut in business rates; the extension of HMRC’s time to pay. That will be of real help to small businesses struggling with cash flow. And while the investment allowance has been doubled to