Time to be the friend of business, Chancellor is told
by John Lamb

A business-friendly budget is being anticipated by companies in Birmingham and Solihull from Gordon Brown tomorrow (Wednesday).

Greater tax incentives and a cut in red tape to allow all companies, particularly SMEs and manufacturers, to compete in an increasingly global market are among the issues raised by members of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCI).

Head of policy Debbie Walsh said: “Our members are telling us that business must be given the tools to be more competitive and this can be aided greatly by tax concessions and a reduction of red tape.

While firms are administering regulations from Whitehall and Brussels they are not concentrating on the sharp end of business – like selling products at home and overseas."

“Frankly it would be disastrous if the Chancellor increases the burdens. Tax breaks would be a way to encourage companies to invest in themselves in terms of people, plant and buildings.

“But most of all we do not want the Chancellor to rock the boat by introducing measures with an eye on the forthcoming General Election. We need a steady hand on the tiller to give businesses confidence in turbulent times.

Accountant Nigel Reynolds, of Nigel Reynolds and Co, hoped for changes to the pre-owned asset taxation rules introduced in the 2004 budget.

He said: “This taxation was poorly thought out since it caught the elderly who sold off part of their homes to assist in making their life more comfortable in their retirement.

“The Chancellor’s recent announcement that this tax now only catches arrangements made after March 7 was obviously done with the forthcoming election in mind. This is still an unacceptable taxation of the elderly.

“I am finding more and more clients whose pension funds have not produced the amounts that they expected to achieve and for more people their main asset is their home.

“To then be told that if they try to release some or all of the equity in their home to make life more bearable will result in them being taxed is the equivalent of kicking someone when they are down.

“We need sanity and compassion on this issue from the Chancellor.”

Mr Reynolds also called on Mr Brown to remove the regulations, which challenge the status of husband and wife businesses. “He should remove this attack on hard working families to ensure that husband and wife businesses can continue as they had before this unwarranted attack by the tax authorities.”

John Hughes, of the Birmingham-based John Hughes Law Practice, called on Mr Brown to offer more help for businesses through tax concessions.

“I am also concerned that the government’s extension of leave entitled adversely affects small businesses. It can be very difficult to recruit temporary replacements for specialist lawyers or even non-qualified and secretarial staff.”

Joy Smith, who runs her JCM public relations consultancy in Birmingham, is looking for more benefits on tax issues for small, independent and sole-trade operators as well as more incentives on personal pension provisions.

Fiona Hudson-Kelly, chief executive of computer recruitment business Silver Lining Solutions Limited, said: “I would like to see more encouragement for small companies to take on staff and reduce the rate they pay on employers’ tax and National Insurance because it cripples young SMEs.”

Graham Aldred, of the Silk Forest artificial tree production company based in Colville, asked for deferred taxation on retained profits for small businesses and profits.

David Hems, of Small Heath-based Modular Industries Ltd, manufacturers in the automotive sector, was also looking for tax relief and incentives in his sector and added: “I would like to see a higher rate of income tax at 50 per cent for very large earners, say over £100,000 and the combination of PAYE and National Insurance into one tax.

“If the governments want to promote families they should bring back the Married Couples’ Allowance. It is also time the Chancellor considered raising the earnings figures beyond which benefits in kind are set – the current figure of £8,500 has been that for many, many years.”

Mr Hems also called for a 50p per packet increase on cigarettes.