Budget 2009: The main points

Web User rounds up the main points of the 2009 Budget.

Budget 2009: Online coverage

- VAT rate of 15 per cent will stay in place until December

- Extending Stamp Duty holiday on properties under £175,000 until the end of the year

- £2,000 discount for motorists buying cars if they trade in cars more than 10 years old until March 2010

- Funds for a further 54,000 further education and sixth-form places next year

- 50 per cent income tax rate for those earning £150,000 and over in 2010/2011

- Tax relief on pension funds for those earning £150,000 and over will be cut from 2011

- Tobacco and alcohol duty up two per cent from midnight tonight

- Fuel duty up 2p per litre from September

- £1bn to help combact climate change by supporting low-carbon industries and 'green collar' jobs

- £500m to kick-start home building industries

- £50m to support modernisation of accomodation for members of the armed forces

- Funding to support the building of a next-generation broadband network in line with the Digital Britain report recommendations

- Carbon emissions to be cut by 34 per cent by 2020

- Increase in child tax credits of £20 from April 2010

- Increase the basic state pension by 2.5 per cent

- Statutory redundancy pay increased from £350 to £380 per week

- ISA maximum tax-free investment limit raised by £3,000 to £10,200 per year for the over-50s from this year and everyone else next year