The Local Government Finance Act is being touted as the next big thing, but smaller firms such as contractors and sole traders aren’t quite convinced of this.
Redistributing cash from supplementary business rates may look like a good idea on paper, but smaller-sized businesses aren’t holding out much hope for the new legislation to make much of a difference, according to research conducted by the Forum of Private Businesses on the subject. The act provides for extra payable levies on top of any industry standard business rates, with the plan being that the cash generated by these levies would then be put towards specific local projects that would be selected after a local authority consults wiht local firms, but the FPB found that 56 per cent of its members didn’t see how the new rules would have much of an impact on their business activities.
To make matters worse, a full 22 per cent – nearly one out of every four – felt that the local economy most likely wouldn’t benefit from the new Act. Around 6 per cent of the survey’s respondents also feared that the end result would be that small business owners, contractors, or freelancers might end up having to shell out cash towards something that had no direct or indirect benefit to them whatsoever.
Scepticism ran high in the survey, with an overwhelming 76 per cent feeling anywhere from moderately to severely sceptical that local authorities would actually work hand in hand with local firms in order to revitalise the economy. Less than 20 per cent actually had any confidence in such a plan.
Alex Jackman, the FPB’s head of policy, said that it was obvious that small firms have little to no confidence when it came to local authorities being able to not just spend the money gathered by such a scheme n a responsible manner but that businesses will not benefit from the matter. With quite a few survey respondents indicating that their local authorities are pushing for an increase in the kinds of activities that go on in town centres, Mr Jackman remarked that it seems as if the focus is being paced upon larger firms.
Truth be told, I tend to agree with Mr Jackman’s assessment and the words of the Forum as well. The Government’s heart is in the right place in wanting to increase funding for the types of projects that will bring local communities together, it’s head seems to be lodged firmly up their own backsides if it thinks local authorities can be trusted to do the right thing and invest in smaller, local firms instead of something else altogether.
