10 Things That Will Cost More From April..

[gaz]

Check the car tax.

1. Council tax. There are so many conflicting reports about how much we can expect our council tax bills to increase. The only thing that is certain is that they will go up, not down. Some figures suggest the rise will be as much as 4%, which would still be above inflation. For the average band D bill, this is means you will be paying an extra £57 on the current bill of £1,414.

Council tax has already doubled since Labour came to power. Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report, which called for £550million in savings by 2013 from local government has left many homeowners are worried that cuts to services will affect the already shaky rubbish collections. What you can do....Check you're getting due discounts such as for single occupancy, students or empty homes and you're claiming relevant benefits and read my blog on council tax to find out how you can check whether you're in the wrong band...

2. Stamps. First and second-class stamps will rise by 2p to 41p and 32p respectively on 6 April 2010, the company said. What you can do.... stock up on stamps now as they are inflation-proofed if they have just '1st' or '2nd' on them. Why not stock up for Christmas while you're at it.

3. TV licence. From April 1 the cost of a colour television licence will be £145.00. Click here to read my BBC blogs if you want to know what your money is spent on.

4. Petrol and diesel. The government slaps an extra 1p per litre from 1st April as the controversial fuel tax hits again. What you can do.....shop around for the cheapest pumps near you at the PetrolPrices website and read my blog on surviving the petrol hike for more tips.

5. Car tax. From April 1, 2010, there will be a one-off rate for Vehicle Excise Duty for the first year a car is registered. The government says this will designed to 'send a stronger signal to the buyer about the environmental implications of their car purchase and will only apply to new cars, not already registered cars'. Low-pollution vehicles in bands A-D will pay no tax in the first year, but some taxes are doubled. Owners of top-polluting cars will pay £950 for their 12-month tax disc. Ouch. From the second tax disc onwards they will then pay the standard rate.

6. Phone bills. BT changes the time during which customers can make free evening calls from 6pm to 7pm from 1st April. BT is also raising the call set-up fee for non-inclusive calls (those you have to pay for outside your free plan calls) from 9.3p to 9.9p a call, while the cost of calls made during the daytime will increase from 5.4p a minute to 5.9p a minute. These charge changes will not apply to BT Basic, Light User Scheme and In-Contact Plus customers. I wrote about this back in February so click here for further details of the new costs and plans. BT is not the only company putting up prices in April though. Virgin Media increasing its line rental from £11 to £11.99. What you can do.... Save money on your landline bill by shopping around for the best line rental prices, finding the call package which suits your needs and possibly bundling your home package with your broadband or digital TV service.

7. Nice pubs. As business taxes are raised for our struggling pubs (nearly 4,000 have closed since 1997), any locals which are unspoilt or have restaurants, real ale, gardens or wine bars are deemed to have a higher Rateable Value and must pay more tax from April. Features such as a pool room, skittles alley, bowling green, children's play area and darts and even Sky Sports have also been targeted. Obviously the costs will be passed on to customers.

8. MPs' wages. The 1.5% rise will give them basic salaries of £65,737. Nice work if you can get it. Their pay rise last year was 2.33%.

9. London fares and congestion charge. Oyster card pay-as-you-go bus journeys are to rise from £1 to £1.20, the Oyster pay-as-you-go Zone 1 tube fare will increase from £1.60 to £1.80 and the price of a seven-day bus pass will jump from £13.80 to £16.60. Overall, bus fares are to go up by 12.7% and Tube fares will rise by 3.9%. The Mayor said he had protected free and concessionary fares for Londonâ??s elderly, young people and those on low incomes â?? meaning that 40% of bus passengers will continue to travel free or at a substantial concessionary rate. Londonâ??s Congestion Charge will rise by 25% to £10.

10. Income tax. If you are earn more than £150,000 a year then your top rate of income tax will rise to 50% from 6 April. All income over this threshold will be taxed at 50%, except dividend income which will be taxed at an effective rate of 36.1%. In addition, those earning over £112,950 will lose entitlement to the tax-free personal allowance â?? currently £6,475. What you can do....talk to your accountant for guidance on how to mitigate this.

Don't forget.... also going up is the 2010/11 tax-free ISA allowance. The annual limit will go up from £7,200 to £10,200 on 6 April. The cash limit in the overall allowance will rise from £3,600 to £5,100. The remainder can be invested in shares

[lukerobz]

wat a bich

[LukeSR]

Robbing bastards.

[jason_l]

WOW! Only 10 things that will cost more, result

That car tax is a fecking joke, they keep putting the tax up on cars that polute more! Luckily mines a 2000 model and i have been told they can't backdate it. My car should be about £400-500 for tax but im paying £230. Makes me want to just rag it everywhere to get my moneys worth and burn as much fuel as possible!

[gaz]

I happen to have read a statistic years ago about the real effect of cars on the environment, it was no where near as bad as you think (as they make out). The main sources of pollution were pesticide farming, other chemicals, manufacture and distribution.

In my view they are obviously aware of this and are using it to extort money from the public on a mass scale. They must make some profit on those prices, let alone the cost of fuel.

This country has remained so influential and powerful through all of history and within the space of 10 years it has become unexplainably lame in too many ways. Just because of the people, and within the next 30 years it will be run by non UK citizens. Annoying yet we're powerless, England/Britain is coming to an end.

[Jason_T]

so its only the new cars whos tax will go up to the new amounts then? the older cars wont rise?

[Sparky]

I hate this country

/end of

[Glanza-Love]

FK this... malta? here i come..

[Mo3]

wow thats badluck for u guys

[LukeH]

oh dear, talk about this country being down the shiter. how will this help anything in this economic situation.

[Raoul]

I happen to have read a statistic years ago about the real effect of cars on the environment, it was no where near as bad as you think (as they make out). The main sources of pollution were pesticide farming, other chemicals, manufacture and distribution.

In my view they are obviously aware of this and are using it to extort money from the public on a mass scale. They must make some profit on those prices, let alone the cost of fuel.

This country has remained so influential and powerful through all of history and within the space of 10 years it has become unexplainably lame in too many ways. Just because of the people, and within the next 30 years it will be run by non UK citizens. Annoying yet we're powerless, England/Britain is coming to an end.

Spot on. I couldn't have put this better myself. There is no point in calling it 'Great' Britain anymore. Guy Fawkes had the right idea.

[wastegate]

Almost same shit in Greece...

We was the third cheapest country on fuel and we are the second more expensive and more...

[gaz]

Funny thing is the larger counrties like Australia and America have cheaper fuel. Their population is far greater than most countries and not only that they all drive bigger, heavier and larger engined cars. So if countries like those don't do much about it then what's the point.