Member Article

Budget 2014 - wish list countdown

Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget announcement, our tax team have been sharing their ‘Budget Wish Lists’. We will also be sharing key summaries and live tweets throughout today and the rest of the week – follow us @TaitWalker.

For our final ‘Wish List’ before the announcement we hear from our Managing Partner, Andrew Moorby. Andrew would like to see a number of changes that would help to benefit the North East, including:

More jobs in the private sector, particularly for young people.

This could be achieved by providing incentives to employers through NIC relief for three years for an apprentice, one year for a graduate, and five years for the long-term unemployed.

Businesses investing more in the future.

Andrew thinks that the Annual Investment Allowance should stay at £250,000 for longer, as opposed to falling to £25,000 as it is currently expected to. This would encourage businesses to invest more in the long term, knowing their investment is supported by the government.

More investment in people. By introducing enhanced tax relief for qualifying training, similar to the current R&D Tax Reliefs, businesses will be more likely to invest in providing training opportunities for employees, helping to increase the level skills of people in the region.

Fixed costs of business to be held steady/reduced to encourage new business.

Reducing carbon tax on energy and a review of business rates would help to keep fixed costs down, meaning costs should only rise with improved performance, therefore encouraging new business.

More funding available for new businesses.

Providing tax reliefs for those who set up their own business, for example extending the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), would help provide extra funding to encourage new start-ups, as well as allowing some carry back of losses incurred in start-up years against prior income.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tait Walker .