Now, there will be no 2 per cent payable on earnings up to and including that amount.The upper limit on which NI is payable will rise to pounds 500 a week. In April 2000, the earnings point above which employees pay NI contributions will be raised by pounds 21 per week over two years – from pounds 66 in April 1999 to pounds 76 in April 2000 and then to pounds 87 – the level of the single person’s tax allowance – in April 2001.At the same time, the upper earnings limit, the point above which employees stop paying NI contributions, will be raised by pounds 30 per week to pounds 535 from April 2000, and then by pounds 55 per week from April 2001, to pounds 575 per week.For someone earning more than pounds 575 a week, the weekly NI burden will rise from pounds 43.28 at present to pounds 48 a week in April 2001, or about pounds 20 a month.For the self-employed, flat-rate NI contributions of pounds 6.55 per week, paid once earnings exceed pounds 72.50, will be cut to pounds 2 a week. However, NI will be raised from 6 per cent on profits between pounds 145 and pounds 500 per week to 7 per cent.At the same time, the lower earnings limit on which NI is payable will be cut to pounds 85 per week, and the upper limit will be raised to pounds 535, and then to pounds 575 by 2001. The total effect will be to raise the maximum rate of NI payable from pounds 21.30 to pounds 34.30 a week.Nic Cicutti. THE ABOLITION of mortgage interest tax relief (Miras) from April 2000 will cost pounds 17.37 a month for homeowners with borrowings of pounds 30,0000. The cut is equivalent to a 0.35 per cent interest hike for a typical borrower.

But some experts predicted it would go largely unnoticed at a time when interest rates have fallen several times, by up to 2 per cent, in the past six months.
Brokers argued this week that now the final tax breaks on mortgages are to be removed, it would strengthen the impetus for early repayment of home loans.Meanwhile, some lenders have quietly welcomed the demise of Miras, already eroded to 10 per cent. They will now be freer to redesign the traditional 25-year loan, mixing other kinds of credit more flexibly with the homeloan package.Less welcome is the increase in stamp duty, which will hit residents of housing hot spots throughout Britain, and will causing hardship to those living in London and the south-east of England.From next Tuesday, homes above pounds 250,000 will incur 2.5 per cent in stamp duty, 0.5 per cent higher than at present. Similarly, the rate for those over pounds 500,000 rises to 3.5 per cent. If you have already exchanged contracts, the old rates will apply.Property below pounds 60,000 will continue to be free of stamp fees on purchase.

Up to pounds 250,000, the current 1 per cent will be levied.Teresa Hunter. THE AVERAGE pensioner household will gain pounds 240 a year from this Budget. More than 200,000 pensioners will be taken off income tax through a boost to tax allowances for the over-65s. For people aged 65 to 74, the additional allowance rises by pounds 310 a year, to pounds 5,720. Pensioners over 75 will have their allowance raised by a further pounds 160, to pounds 5,980 before tax.