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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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Economic growth and social justice must be achieved while protecting the environment so as to ensure a better quality of life for current and future generations. To protect and improve the environment, Budget 2003:

• defers an increase in the main road fuel duties, in line with inflation, until 1 October 2003 because of recent high and volatile oil prices;


• introduces a new lower rate of vehicle excise duty (VED) for the cleanest vehicles and increases car VED by £5;


• introduces new tax incentives to encourage business investment in energy-saving technologies and to promote sustainable water use; and


• promotes environmentally-friendly means of waste disposal, such as recycling, by increasing the tax paid by businesses that dispose of waste to landfill and using the additional tax revenues to help businesses manage better the waste they create.

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