Archive for the ‘London’ Category
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
Boris Johnson has axed plans to charge gas-guzzlers £25 to drive in the congestion charge zone. This means there will be no increase in charge for drivers of Band G vehicles from October 2008. The B and A and B discount, which would have resulted in thousands of cars driving into the zone for free and adding to congestion, has also been removed. The decision by the Mayor means that the discount for alternative fuel vehicles will remain in place and the existing congestion charge scheme will not be affected.
Ending the charge on the capital’s most polluting vehicles at this stage means that Transport for London will save around £10m that would have gone on implementing the scheme. The move also means Porsche is entitled to have legal costs, estimated at £400,000, paid by TfL after it launched a challenge to the former mayor’s plans. But the car-maker has offered to donate the money it receives to Skidz, a charity that provides young people, particularly those with few advantages, with mechanical skills and training that could lead to future employment.
Tags: Boris Johnson, C-charge, congestion charge, congestion charge scheme, gas-guzzlers, London Mayor, porsche, Skidz, TfL, Transport for London
Posted in Finance, London, Politics, Taxation | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Banking giant Goldman Sachs, the world’s most profitable bank, known for having the best-paid employees in the City, admitted its pay and bonuses fund had shrunk by more than a third compared with this time a year ago (and by half so far this year) even though it had managed to avoid the credit crisis by selling off most of its subprime mortgages last spring. Economists warn that if Goldman Sachs employees are suffering, it is likely bonuses for other City bankers could be disastrous this year. This, as well as the 10,000 workers expected to be laid-off in the City this year will have a major impact on the London economy as big-spending bankers tighten their belts. The knock-on effects are likely to be in the property and art markets as well as in London’s restaurants and shops.
Tags: city bankers, city workers, employees, goldman sachs, job axe, pay cuts, subprime, subprime mortgages
Posted in Consumer, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, London, Sub-prime | No Comments »
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
While it was buried in yesterday’s Budget details, the earnings ceiling for NI has been raised by £100 to £770 a week. Analysts say this means workers earning around £40,000 will pay £520 extra a year and will be among the big losers from the Budget. The change to the NI cap will be worth almost £2bn a year in revenues to the Treasury. Critics say the rise in NI bills, combined with the lack of concessions on other taxes that fall hardest on the capital - such as residential-property stamp duty, higher council tax bills, road tax, increased duty on alcohol etc - meant Londoners would be providing an even higher proportion of the national tax from April. As there are more people in London earning over £40,000 a year, they would be hit the hardest by this hidden tax.
Tags: Chancellors budget, NI, stealth tax, tax increases, Treasury
Posted in Finance, Government, HM Revenue & Customs, HMRC, London, Politics, Taxation | No Comments »
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Homebuyers have forked out £31.5bn in stamp duty over the past ten years. Last year alone, the figure reached £6.5bn - a staggering 675% increase since Labour came to power. In 1997-1998, just £830m in stamp duty was paid. Increases introduced by Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor, which were widely criticised at the time, are forcing record numbers of homebuyers to pay stamp duty. Before Labour came to power, the tax was charged at just one per cent on all properties sold for £60,000 or more. Today, it is charged at 1% on houses costing between £125,000 and £250,000, 3% on those worth from £250,000 to £500,000 and 4% for those sold for more than £500,000. In London, the average asking price for a home is £402,000, which would mean stamp duty of more than £12,000. The majority of first-time buyers are now forced to pay the tax, which - coupled with the recent property boom - makes finding enough money to buy a home even harder.
Tags: Chancellor, First-time buyers, Gordon Brown, Government, stamp duty, stamp duty threshold, tax
Posted in Consumer, Finance, First-time buyers, Government, House prices, London, Politics, Property, Property Market, Property Prices | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Luxury carmaker Porsche said on today it planned to legally challenge London mayor Ken Livingstone’s decision to help fight global warming by taxing gas guzzling cars driving in the city centre. Porsche said the £25 daily charge was unfair, would not cut emissions of carbon dioxide and would deter businesses from moving to the city. Environmentalists lashed out at the Porsche move and called for even tougher measures against the most polluting cars in next month’s budget. Announcing the plan last week Livingstone admitted that it would have little immediate effect on carbon emissions but said it would discourage people from driving polluting cars in the city centre and encourage manufacturers to make cleaner engines. He said the new scheme would raise £30 million to £50 million a year and cover most of the cost of a major cycling initiative that will include a Paris-style roadside bicycle hire scheme in the city centre.
Tags: C-charge, environmentalists, gas-guzzlers, Ken Livingstone, London Mayor, porsche
Posted in Consumer, Government, London, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
London Mayor Ken Livingstone today announced a tripling of the congestion charge for ‘Chelsea tractors’ to £25 a day - the equivalent of £6,500 a year. The 90% discount for zone residents owning gas-guzzlers (band G vehicles) will also be scrapped - meaning they will have to pay the full amount wherever they live. He is also proposing, from October, that cars emitting the lowest amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (bands A and B cars), such as Ford Fiestas, Fiat Pandas and Renault Clios, should get a 100% discount. Until now the only total exemption from the £8-a-day charge was for electric, hybrid and bio-fuel cars, such as the Toyota Prius and G-Whizz.
Tags: C-charge, C-charge discount, gas-guzzlers, greenhouse, Ken Livingstone, London Mayor, vehicles
Posted in London | No Comments »
