Darling pledges help for SMEs
Dec 09 2009
Darling announces PBR
Email a friend
The Chancellor announced proposals to help small businesses in his pre-Budget report.
Alistair Darling committed £500 million for a capital growth fund to support small businesses and an extension to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.
Darling announced tax help for SMEs by delaying the 1p increase in corporation tax for profits under £300,000, extending empty property rate relief for properties of a rateable value of £18,000 and continuing the ‘time to pay’ scheme, which allows companies to spread tax payments.
Less popular will be plans to raise VAT back to 17.5 per cent from January and an increase in National Insurance by 0.5 per cent in 2011.
Charlie Mullins, managing director of Pimlico Plumbers, says: 'Ramping up National Insurance is no way to get us out of trouble. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy and have been attacked at the very time when they need help the most.'
The Chancellor also announced a 50 per cent tax on discretionary bank bonuses of more than £25,000.
In a poll from SmallBusiness.co.uk, 30 per cent of respondents said they wanted to see VAT kept at 15 per cent, while 32 per cent wanted to see a reduction in VAT and national insurance contributions.
Of the 204 businesses surveyed, 14 per cent wanted more funding for SMEs and 13 per cent to see the government address public debt.
Comment by esther porta
Sunday 13th December 2009It's tough, but in many ways it is still business as usual'. If you are running a small to medium sized creative agency,as just one example, it means what you have always known. You need to stay nimble on your feet and be looking for new customers. If you have a balance between public and private sector clients, you may want to alter your focus a bit come the autumn. And if you are entirely focused on the public sector, you should prepare to fight for budget. If you are already suffering through the private sector economic decline, you need to solidify your customer relationships with companies that will do well in recovering economies and try to bag a few of them as clients. Everyone does well on a rising tide, but the plain truth is that, whatever shape this recession turns out to be, we will have to wait a good few years to feel that surge tide floating us all high again with both private and public sector growing. I am afraid there is no escaping the fact that it is going to be a lot of hard work and we are going to see both winners and losers for quite a while to come. If you want to be on the winning side, now is time to think through your strategy and to put in place plans to protect and grow your business. Rose Lewis Pembridge Partners LLP www.pembridge.net
Report this comment
Comments [1]