Budget 2013: What did the Chancellor's red box have for businesses?

Chancellor George Osborne was booed in the House of Commons today as he announced that growth in 2013 would be 0.6%, half the 1.2% he announced with aplomb in the Autumn Statement.

He insisted that “Britain is open for business” and that the budget was only for “those who want to work and get on”.

But what does the Chancellor’s “Budget for an aspiration nation” have for businesses? Here are the key points:

1. Corporation tax cut by 1% to 20% from 2015. Chancellor dubs this as “the lowest business tax of any major economy in the world”
2. New employment allowance to cut national insurance bills by £2,000 for every firm. This means 450,000 small firms will pay no employer national insurance
3. A fivefold increase in the value of government procurement budgets spent through the Small Business Research Initiative
4. Infrastructure spending to be increased by £3bn a year
5. Fuel duty increase planned for September scrapped
6. Beer duty cut by 1p a pint
7. New tax reliefs for the creative industries like high-end television and animation with new support for the “UK’s world-class visual effects sector”
8. Chancellor promised to double the size of the loans that employers can offer tax-free to pay for items such as season tickets for commuters
9. Abolition of stamp duty on AIM stocks
10. Introduction of capital gains tax relief for sales of businesses to their employees
11. Personal allowance to be raised to £10,000 from next year, not from 2015 as originally planned. That means people will be able to earn £10,000 without paying tax. Osborne called this a “historic achievement”
12. The government is in talks with the Bank of England for potential extensions of the Funding for Lending Scheme “that will boost lending still further”
13. The government to name and shame companies who promote themselves as tax avoiders. Osborne pledged to introduce “one of the largest ever packages of tax avoidance and evasion measures presented at a Budget”. Agreements with the Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey will bring in over a billion pounds of unpaid taxes
14. Thumbs up for School for Start Ups boss and ex-Dragons’ Den Star Doug Richard’s recommendations on apprenticeships.

Follow our live coverage of the Budget 2013 all day on LondonlovesBusiness.com.

Do you think the Chancellor’s budget proves “Britain’s open for business”? Leave your comments below…