Is he allowed Maple Syrup? Which I appreciate is 'pure' sugar too. Raisins?
We lost Child Benefit completely, which I totally agreed with actually, so applauded that move. They've moved the lower threshold for income tax, which is again a brilliant thing for low earners and I applaud. They also reduced the upper earnings limit, so you tip into higher rate tax sooner, not particularly advertised.
It's the changes to the way dividends are paid next year that will really affect us. Most of our earnings are paid via dividends. This is tax efficient personally for folk that have their own businesses as the tax rates for paying income this way are more favourable, and NI is less. The HMRC were also happy with the arrangement, as they get their slice of the pie, the tax burden falls on the company via corporation tax. They lose a bit of NI payments though, but most employers will still pay themselves some PAYE anyway.
Tax rates for dividends are changing radically in 2015, and our personal tax burden will increase significantly.
Look, I am moaning about nothing, as we have more than many and I am being selfish.
I just see how hard DH works. 70 hours a week, every week, away a lot. He pays his guys good wages and treats them well, all completely and utterly above board so the HMRC get their share of employee and employer contributions. The burden of keeping his guys in work during the recession used to make him ill. We spend at least 100k with suppliers each month, so the economy is benefiting from all this hard work. Our corp tax bill is 75k. They get their share.
Is allowing a loophole and losing a touch of NI really that bad to encourage the folk to take the risk and start a business?
Like I say, it's selfish though. It's not actually the money that pisses me off. We are a small business. The likes of Google and Costa will continue to be able to afford to pay expensive accounts firms to pay way less in percentage terms than we do.
And then moan they can't afford to pay the living wage without risking jobs. We would never pay folk such low wages in the first place, so are not affected by this.