Budget 2016: The winners and losers

Which groups will benefit from George Osborne's new budget and who are the unlucky ones set to lose out?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

WINNERS

- Oil and gas industry: The Chancellor threw a lifeline to an industry under pressure from tumbling global prices, with tax cuts worth £1 billion over five years.

- Income tax payers: The threshold at which people start paying income tax will rise to £11,500 and the higher rate threshold to £40,000, taking 1.3 million individuals out of tax altogether. By 2017-18, a typical basic rate taxpayer will be paying £1,005 less and a higher rate taxpayer £1,118 less than in 2010.

- Corporation tax payers: The levy on businesses is being cut to 17 per cent – the lowest rate in the G20. Cuts to the tax are worth a total of almost £15 billion a year to business by 2020.

- Small businesses: The 100 per cent exemption from business rates is being extended from properties with a rateable value of £6,000 to £12,000, and being made permanent, with a tapered rate of relief for those worth up to £15,000. This will mean 600,000 businesses paying no rates.

- Motorists: Yet again, Mr Osborne has frozen fuel duty, meaning van drivers will save £12 each time they fill their tank, compared to 2010.

- Beer, cider and spirit drinkers: Alcohol duty on these is frozen, saving drinkers £85 million a year if the benefit is passed on.

- Primary school sports classes: They will see their funding double thanks to money from the sugary drinks levy.

- AirBnB landlords: People who make money from their property via online sharing sites will be able to earn £1,000 tax-free.

- People saving for their first home: Under-40s will be able to open a new Lifetime Individual Savings Account (a “Lisa”), gaining a 25 per cent bonus from the government for savings of up to £4,000 a year towards buying a home.


LOSERS

- The soft drinks industry: Rather than imposing a blanket sugar tax, Mr Osborne has hit drink manufacturers and importers with a new levy on high-sugar drinks expected to bring in £520 million a year.

- Public sector employers: They are facing a £2 billion increase in the cost of providing pensions to workers from 2019-20.

- Wine drinkers: The tax on a 75cl bottle rises to £2.09 in line with inflation.

- Smokers who roll their own: An above-inflation hike worth £10 million a year is targeted at self-rolling tobacco.

- Overseas traders: Traders using websites like Amazon and eBay to sell goods from abroad will face de-listing if they do not pay VAT in the UK.


A BIT OF BOTH

The G&T set: Lovers of gin and tonic will have been cheered by the freeze on duties on spirits, only to find that the new soft drinks levy will hit their favourite mixer.