UK Chancellor George Osborne delivered the government’s 2016 Budget on Wednesday 16th March 2016. Prior to this speech, Bdaily questioned prominent Yorkshire companies, including Turner Little, on what the Budget could have meant for businesses in the region.
Devolution and tax
The chairman of KPGM North, Chris Herald, said that he hoped the Budget produced another devolution deal for Yorkshire. The government’s Northern Powerhouse project, which is designed to develop northern urban economies, is city-led. Herald argued that Yorkshire cities like Leeds need similar devolution deals to the one agreed by Sheffield. This would allow them to make the key investment choices, he suggested, required to develop powerhouse economies.
Hull Business Coaching co-founder Pam Featherstone expected tax to come up. Commenting, she said “Osborne is likely to announce further measures to improve transparency and to tackle tax avoidance to reassure the public that the government is focused on making the UK a fair and transparent tax destination for businesses.” Featherstone also suggested that Whitehall would reveal changes to tax law e.g. reducing entrepreneur relief, to show voters how it planned to balance the UK’s books.
Living wage and pensions
The managing director of Wakefield-based clothing company Xamax, Graham Thompson, believed Osborne needed to announce measures to reduce the burden of the national living wage on UK firms. He said that “for a small business, where a vast number of employees are on or just above the national minimum wage, the rise will have a devastating impact.” Thompson added that “the government needs to offer something in return whether it be a reduction in business rates or tax” in this year’s Budget to help British companies deal with the financial burden of the living wage.
Meanwhile Richard Little, the tax partner at KPMG Leeds, said: “The Government has an opportunity to set out its stall when it comes to taxation and we are hopeful that the promise of a business tax roadmap will come to fruition this Budget.” Continuing, he expressed the hope that Whitehall would not “use the roadmap as cover for a widening of the tax base applicable to all companies.” Going on, he suggested that “leaks to the press over the past few days suggest that there will not be fundamental reforms to the taxation of pensions in this Budget.”
Small business support
Also Turner Little’s Managing Director, James Turner, was quoted by Bdaily saying: “My aspirations regarding the upcoming Budget would be for the government to offer greater support for new and smaller firms in the region.
“Firstly, if local authorities were permitted to offer start-ups a two year rate-free period on property, this would significantly benefit companies during the initial starting up period. Secondly, another major benefit would be to double the VAT threshold so that companies can turnover up to £164,000 and remain free from this tax. Both of the above will help companies grow and become more stable to more comfortably handle these costs.
“I am particularly interested in what the government is doing for businesses, both new and established, in our area. At present, there’s very little, if anything, which could be directly linked to government policy to support or encourage new Yorkshire businesses. While I expect the Chancellor will draw on the Northern Powerhouse, this is unlikely to actually bear much substance since, with the possible exception of Leeds and Sheffield, which attract occasional support due to the allegedly forthcoming HS2 link to London, the government does very little to support Yorkshire SMEs.
“It is unfortunately because of this that, especially as there is not an election coming up and the government is concentrating efforts on the approaching referendum, I do not expect the upcoming Budget announcements to help those in our area.”
Turner Little
Turner Little was founded in 1998 and it has since become a well-established UK based professional Company Registration Agent, Registered Bank Intermediaries and Business Consultants, as well as Trust provider.