Chancellor George Osborne said the government plans to cut the rate of corporation tax by another one per cent.

Britain will have a 20% rate of corporation tax by April 2015 - the lowest business tax of any major economy in the world.

In comparison Germany has a corporation tax of 29%, France has 33% and the US has 40%.

"By merging the small company and main rates at 20p, we will abolish the complex marginal relief calculations between them, and give Britain a single rate of corporation tax for the first time since 1973," Osborne said as he delivered the UK's 2013 Budget on Wednesday.

"As with previous reductions in the corporate tax rate, I do not intend to pass the benefit onto to the banking sector - so I will offset this reduction by increasing the Bank Levy rate next year to 0.142 per cent."

He said Britain has so far reduced corporation tax from the 28% inherited from the previous government to 21% next year.

The Chancellor, however, came under fire from the opposition as he halved his economic growth forecast to 0.06%.

"He is the wrong man in the wrong place," said Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Osborne forecast public-sector net debt to rise to 75.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, 79.2% next year, 82.6% the year after and 85.1% in 2015-16. He expects it to fall to 84.8% by 2017-18.

But he said the deficit had dropped from 11.2% of GDP in 2009/10, to a forecast of 7.4% this year.

The total amount of managed expenditure for 2015/16 will be £745bn.

Osborne insisted his Budget was for "those who want to work and get on" as it helped those who were willing to work hard.

Those on an income of £10,000 or less will pay no income tax - £700 less tax than when government came into power.

"It is a budget for an aspiration nation," Osborne concluded.


RD

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