Hope runs high that Chancellor George Osborne’s newly released Budget may bring some relief for small businesses and umbrella company contractors.
The Budget’s results may be news to the ears of small business owners around the country, industry experts say, as Chancellor Osborne highlighted several benefits aimed in providing aid to SMEs in the form of initiatives such as freezing fuel duty and the Employment Allowance. The Employment Allowance in particular is set to aid 450,000 UK small businesses by eliminating the need to pay National Insurance, and the savings this will generate could see small firms free up enough capital to grow and make use of more freelancing or contracting staff in order to meet those goals.
Despite the good news, there is a catch: the Employment Allowance isn’t going into effect until 2014, which leaves SMEs unfortunately waiting for the rest of the year before they can take advantage of the new programme. The Forum of Private Businesses was quick to welcome the new Budget plans, though they did express disappointment in the delay of the launch of the Employment Allowance, adding that the industry body would have liked to have seen some action taken on business rates as well.
If you ask me, it’s definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to providing more support to the nation’s small businesses. Small, local firms are absolutely without a doubt the lifeblood of the British economy, and small business owners need every little stitch of help they can get in order for them to work their magic and help the UK climb out of this black morass of sluggish economic recovery – especially since large multinationals can’t be trusted to do right by Brits in any way, shape or form.
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not running down multinationals completely, as they employ shedloads of Brits and help to provide them with the wherewithal to keep a roof over their heads and to provide for their families. However, the buck stops there when it comes to the contributions of multinationals, as you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that pays its fair share when it comes to taxes; large firms such as Starbucks and Google are absolutely adept at funneling pre-tax profits overseas to avoid the grasp of the taxman, and as much as those pay cheques they keep handing out are incredibly valuable, billions in lost tax revenue every year could also certainly go far in providing the Government capital for more programmes such as the Employment Allowance, wouldn’t it?
