As fiscal statements go, 29 November 2011 will be one for the record books. With economic turbulence outside the Houses of Parliament and vociferous heckling from the Opposition benches within, the Chancellor struggled both to formulate and present proposals which remedied missed Coalition debt-reduction targets while supporting businesses, tackling unemployment and boosting infrastructure spend.

Some things were however comfortingly familiar. Much of what was said had in part been announced earlier in the year. Of course, early consultation on new tax proposals is always welcome: all being well, better, clearer, workable tax legislation should be produced.

So what is new (or newish) on the tax front?

Starting with the good news, two give-aways were confirmed as expected. First, delaying the January 2012 fuel duty increase to August and cancelling the August 2012 increase. Second, the small business rate holiday will be extended until 2012/13. These reliefs, with a total value of £825m – £1.2bn in a full year will be welcomed by both individuals and qualifying businesses alike.

So how will these be paid for?

Again, in two main ways. First, by denying tax relief to employers who promise pension scheme contributions, back those promises with assets but don’t make the cash contributions to the pension funds. This measure, which has been the subject of consultation, will raise £450m in a full year.

Second, with a permanent bank levy expected to generate £300m per year. As an aside, it’s not apparent how the Chancellor will, by imposing a permanent UK-only bank levy but refusing to consider a Europe-wide financial transactions tax, achieve his stated aim of making the UK the home of global banks. No doubt all will be revealed when the detail is published.

As ever, my expert tax colleagues at Baker Tilly will be poring over the fine print working out what theproposals really mean and explaining complex tax issues simply.