There’s another Budget coming up and it’s the second from Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne this year. But it’s the first from him as the finance minister in a majority Conservative government.
But what do small businesses want from another Budget? The guys at Enterprise Nation have asked SMEs and they are chocful of good ideas. You can read up in full here, there are 31 ideas in full, but there are a few that we really like that we’ve quoted below.
Tamebay has long said there are a few business reforms we’d like to see. We reckon VAT should return to 15% again, we’d love to see proper reform of business rates (it’s currently a tax on operating and not success) and we’d like to see the personal tax allowance continue to rise. It may not be an obvious SME measure, but it means a lot to sole traders.
Overall, a focus from HM Government on actual small SMEs (sole traders, kitchen table entrepreneurs, second income businesses and the like, those with 1 or 2 members of staff and turnovers below 10 million) would be appreciated. We haven’t seen that yet. The current definition of “small business’ by government seems to include pretty huge businesses from where we’re standing.
So, here are some ideas we like:
Business rates:
“The number one thing that I want is a review of business rates. At least corporation tax is reflective of the profitability of the business, but business rates are both significant and chargeable regardless of how well the company is doing. Having recently moved offices we have seen a big increase in our rates, but we get absolutely nothing for it.”
Jeremy Stern, PromoVeritas
Payments:
“We want to see definitive legislation on prompt payments from blue chip companies that will protect SME suppliers from late payers. The current terms that many small businesses are subjected to are neither fair nor sustainable, but it is a reality that they have very little power to change. It is up to the government to stand up for SMEs and deliver on their legislative promises.”
Tracy Ewen, IGF Invoice Finance
A Business Allowance:
“I’m sure many fellow business owners would agree that a Business Allowance, like it’s sister the ‘Personal Allowance’ which lets people earn £10,000 without paying tax, would be a welcomed addition. The idea being that it would let every business in the UK make a tax free profit of £100,000 each and every year.”
Susanna Simpson, Limelight.
Childcare
“Childcare to become an expense. Childcare is so expensive and when you’re a sole trader you feel you can’t pay for childcare if profit doesn’t cover it. Alternatively there should heavily subsidised childcare for the early years of a business and not just for low incomes.”
Lisa Gomm, Tuck Tuck.
What would you suggest?
