Simon Sweetman, Vice-Chairman of the FSB’s taxation committee made the following comments on today’s pre-budget report:
In general:
“We are pleased that the Chancellor has not resorted to gimmicks and has resisted more tweaks to the tax regime that would have led to further confusion for Britain’s entrepreneurs. But the proposals on maternity leave have clearly been made with a general election in mind and with little thought to the impact on small employers.”
On the proposed extension to maternity leave:
“We are concerned that decisions are being taken with next year’s election in mind, and new rights for working mothers are coming at too fast and too furious a rate. All absence from work comes at a cost and small firms are hit the hardest from the increases in costs associated with providing temporary cover. The administration of maternity leave is already a headache for small firms and the proposed transferability of maternity leave will make this worse.”
On the review of small business taxation:
“We are disappointed that Gordon Brown did not lead on the new review of small companies and the self employed in the tax system during his speech as it questions the priority that he is giving to this important discussion document. But we understand that the review will start from the principle that choice of business status should be made on commercial not tax grounds. This reflects the long-held view of the FSB and provides the right starting point for rectifying the mistakes made in small business taxation over the last two years.”
On the Hampton Review:
“With 350 different types of official inspectors enjoy rights of access to business premises, Philip Hampton’s review of inspection and enforcement is of vital importance to small firms. We are pleased that the review appears to be making significant progress. Gordon Brown today announced important commitments to information sharing between different inspectorates and to ensuring that all inspections occur for a reason and not on a whim. We want the government to consider establishing a general practitioner inspectorate so that businesses receive an initial visit from a generalist.”
On the new Small Business Unit at HM Revenue and Customs:
“We welcome the new small business unit at HMRC and hope to be involved in its work.”
On the single tax account and return:
“The proposals for a single account and a single return are ideas that warrant further exploration but we question whether the proposals are achievable. Small businesses must be fully involved in all discussions on the single return and account to ensure that these are made to work.”
On the working tax credit:
“We are very concerned that moves to take away the payment of WTC from employers are proving very slow indeed.”
On red tape:
“Post implementation regulatory impact assessments are something that we called for in a major report earlier this year. There cannot be a good regulatory regime unless legislation is reviewed for its effectiveness after it has been implemented.”
“Common commencement dates are a good idea for small firms. They offer certainty and stability to people who run businesses. But they shouldn’t be seen as an open door for yet more regulations.”
“40% of regulations affecting business come from the EU and it is important that they are open to external challenge so this commitment is useful.”
On the freeze in fuel duties.
“We wrote to the Chancellor this May to call for this year’s increase in duty to be scrapped. We welcome today’s decision and are pleased that the Chancellor has recognised that for many small businesses fuel is an essential tool of the trade.”
Ends
Notes to Editors:
1. The FSB is Britain's biggest business organisation with 185,000 members. It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is at: www.fsb.org.uk.
Contacts:
FSB Chief Spokesman
Stephen Alambritis: 07788422155
FSB Press Office (ISDN available):
David Bishop: 020 7592 8113 / 07740 076848
Daniel Mazliah: 020 7592 8128 / 07717 861605