Budget 2016: East Mids business owners praise SME focus

Business owners across the region have praised George Osborne for the tax breaks he gave to SME’s in today’s Budget

Ben Guy, managing director at Phoenix said: “It was a Budget for small business, no doubt about it. He said he’d give us “lower taxes on business and enterprise” and I think, overall, he mostly delivered. I was extremely pleased to see The Chancellor announce rate relief for small businesses. Raising the lower-rate threshold to £15k and the higher-rate to £51k is a strong signal to British businesses to get on and deliver growth. It will make a real difference to hundreds of thousands of firms.

“Corporate tax cuts for SMEs, paid for by tougher regulation for big business tax avoidance is undoubtedly a headline-grabbing move, but behind all the noise of the Commons this move goes some way to soften business challenges like the apprenticeship levy. Overall, a pleasantly surprising set of measures.

Aaron Dicks, co-founder, Impression, said: “There was plenty in there for startups and digital entrepreneurs so that’s definitely good news. His “tax break for the digital age”, giving new tax free allowances to so-called ‘micro-entrepreneurs’, will hopefully encourage more people to start taking advantage of the huge opportunities available to them through online and ecommerce businesses.

“For more established startups like us, the small business rates relief will undoubtedly help us grow, but I would have liked to see a reverse in the cut to dividend payments for owners. Away from work, the lifetime ISA sounds intriguing for us, especially as our whole workforce is under 30. The devil will no doubt be in the detail with that one though.”

Steve Ciuffini

Steve Ciuffini, general manager at Incorporatewear, welcomed the commitment to transport. He said: “As a supplier to the UK rail industry, we welcome the announcement of new rail lines, including Crossrail 2 and HS3.

“It was also good to hear in the Budget speech that the UK is still set to grow faster than any other major economy.

“The prospect of a million new jobs by 2020 is encouraging, and we hope that many of those jobs will be in sectors where we have major customers such as financial services, airlines and retail.

“The Chancellor announced that the UK economy’s growth forecast has been revised down in response to a weaker global economy. As a business based in the UK and operating internationally, we want to see more confidence in the world economy, including the Eurozone.

“The Chancellor’s support for businesses, such as a cut in the headline rate of corporation tax is also encouraging, as is the new anti-tax avoidance and evasion measures, something we feel strongly about as an ethical business.”

Jonathon Seddon was taken aback by the Chancellor’s Stamp Duty announcement. He said: “I was surprised that the rates of Stamp Duty have been changed on commercial property transactions with a value of between £150,000 to £500,000 but I don’t think that this will have a material effect in the long term.

“Instead, I consider it to be a bump in the road and I would expect the odd deal that’s underway to have a wobble and a few of them may even fall over. Purchasers, who are liable for the payment of the tax are a canny bunch, and most already consider the purchase of a property holistically and amalgamate the purchase price, stamp duty and fees into a single bottom line figure.

“If one element increases, I suspect that many will try to keep the total price the same by chipping a corresponding amount off the purchase price. Some vendors will take this on the chin, others won’t and the parties will work it out between themselves depending upon their particular circumstances. In the longer term, I think it will wash through And soon become the norm.

“Overall, I thought it was a pretty good budget considering the big hole in the finances that the Chancellor is trying to plug.”

Greg Simpson

Meanwhile, Greg Simpson, regional champion at Enterprise Nation and managing director of Press for Attention PR, added: “The budget has been good for small businesses and the self employed. From a tax allowance for the sharing economy to reductions in corporation tax, this is great news and will go some way to off set the new Dividend Tax that comes into effect in April, but the best news of all is the permanent reduction in business rates, which will offer a big boost to the increasing number of independent retailers and producers we see every day looking for a foothold on our high streets.

“The fact that the booming number of self-employed will be able to save tax efficiently for their future through the Lifetime ISA will also go some way towards helping to redress the balance and shows an acceptance that this trend towards working for yourself is not going away and is in fact helping to boost employment rates.”