Budget introduces small but significant changes for 2014

On reflection, the budget passed off without major incident, though there are a number of measures which are coming into effect in 2014.

Because they were announced in previous budgets, they did not get any airtime in this year’s budget announcements.

The following outlines some of the increases in taxes coming into effect: Stamp duty on transfers between family members is set to rise from Dec 31, 2014. The current rules apply stamp duty at a rate of 2% for non-residential property, including farm land.