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Key Budget measures include
Maintaining economic stability
Productivity and enterprise in a flexible economy

Employment opportunity for all
Building a fairer society
High quality public services
Protecting the environment

Household income
Where taxpayers' money is spent
Further information
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A flexible and dynamic economy must go hand-in-hand with a fairer society so that everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential. The Government is committed to eradicating child poverty and tackling pensioner poverty, providing support for families with children and ensuring security for all in old age. It is also creating a modern and fair tax system which raises sufficient revenue for public services and ensures that everyone pays their fair share of tax.

Paid from this month, the Child Tax Credit provides a secure stream of income to help families with children and tackle child poverty, benefiting around 5¾ million families. From October 2003, the new Pension Credit will also provide extra support to low and modest-income pensioners and reward those who have saved for retirement. Budget 2003:

• launches a new Child Trust Fund giving every new born child £250, rising to £500 for those in the poorest one third of families, to ensure that every child has money in the bank to spend at the age of 18;


• provides an extra £100, on top of the £200 winter fuel payment, for households with a pensioner aged 80 or over, throughout this Parliament;


• extends, to 52 weeks, the time over which all pensioners in hospital receive their full state pension;


• clamps down on tax fraud and avoidance to protect government revenues and improve fairness by ensuring that the burden of tax does not fall unfairly on taxpayers who pay their fair share;


• modernises stamp duty, tackling avoidance on commercial property and reducing distortions in the charge on leases;


• raises duties on tobacco, beer and wine in line with inflation, and freezes the duty on spirits; and


• abolishes bingo duty and replaces it with a new tax on the gross profits of bingo companies.

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