George Osborne is delivering his Budget speech Wednesday of this week. It will be interesting to see if his plea for ideas to help smaller businesses has received a sympathetic ear. Here’s what a number of organisations have requested:
British Chambers of Commerce
The BCC have made three recommendations:
- A £100m scheme to pay businesses £1,000 if they hire long term unemployed young people or take on an apprentice.
- A two-year extension to the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers Scheme.
- Increasing the tax relief available to investors using the Enterprise Investment Scheme, from 30% to 50%, for investors in businesses run by the under 24s.
Forum of Private Business
The FPB has appealed for help to support firms with rising costs. In particular:
- A fundamental review of business rates.
- Phasing out VAT on the fuel duty element of the pump price.
- Measures to speed up the movement of cash between businesses to counter late payment.
- The introduction of an export guarantee scheme.
Federation of Small Businesses
The FSB has requested a number of support projects to help smaller businesses:
- Set the Minimum Wage rates for a five year period and change the rate changes to the beginning of the tax year (April) rather than October. This would assist firms with formulating longer term planning objectives.
- The Chancellor is urged to fund new support schemes through the Community Development Finance Institutions – providing a source of funding when access to bank finance is not available.
Confederation of British Industry
The CBI has recommended:
- Incentives to invest in energy generation.
- Extending the Annual Investment Allowance for small firms beyond 2015. The present 100% tax allowance is due to end 31 December 2015.
- Introduce a new capital allowance for structures and buildings.
- A freeze on Air Passenger Duty.
Institute of Directors
The IoD has promoted the idea that no-one should pay more than 50% of their income in taxation. Their contention is that all direct taxes – income tax, employees’ National Insurance, and council tax – should be capped at 50% of income.
It will be interesting to see if any of these proposals are included in the Budget…
