Member Article

My Budget wish list

The Budget countdown is almost over!

Two key issues facing the North East are the perceived lack of entrepreneurship and the over reliance on the public sector. With this in mind I would like to see policies introduced which particularly help young people to set up their own businesses.

These could include:

Provision of more start-up capital. It can be very difficult set up a business unless family and friends are in a position to invest (“Love Money”). One solution could be to offer large companies tax incentives for providing prizes and awards via youth enterprise competitions etc.

Tax relief exists to encourage individuals / businesses to invest in small high risk enterprises (i.e. EIS Enterprise Investment Scheme). However, these schemes contain rules to prevent relatives from qualifying for the tax reliefs. I would like to see these restrictions eased to encourage the investment of “Love Money”.

The introduction of specialist saving programmes for young entrepreneurs. This aim would be to encourage young entrepreneurs to save prior to setting up their own business. Monies put into the account could receive special tax relief or a high rate of return (tax free) if it is subsequently used to fund a new enterprise.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Moorby .