Tory girls - come and explain to me what this govt have done /are doing to help 'enterprise'?

[LadyBlaBlah]

I have a small and new business, and so am a good little Tory story. Apparently, people like me are the future and they will be doing everything they can to stimulate growth in enterprise.

I see the NI reductions for my first 10 employees.

Is that it?

The main one I can think of is lowering corporation tax.

They are increasing the amount a business owner can make from capital gains to £5m I think.

The main thing is that by cutting the deficit they have reduced gilt yields by 0.5%. Most business loans and mortgages are based on these rates, so your bank loans should be cheaper (though the greedy banks haven't passed this on to their customers yet).

Also making 25% of government procurement come from small and medium companies instead of large ones - a switch from big to small business means a healthier business ecosystem.

It's not much really is it? This is all adding up to a bit of a risky strategy.

My business doesn't rely on loans or banks, thankfully. But it does rely on there being an economy which is not shrinking and lacking in confidence. And confidence is the key here - these guys have unnecessarily talked up the 'state of the finances' to totally demolish confidence.

DH and I run a number of businesses and are always on the hunt for more.
Yes, the reduction in corp tax might help - but not enough for most start ups.
Hopefully, money for loans/ ODs will soon filter through.

I think the coalition have really dodged the things that could properly help...like taking a look at the employment laws for small businesses.

Litchick There is a big red tape review launched just today.

Silly things like IR35 could be scrapped or scaled back.

That will be interesting.

Here is the story about the Office for Tax Simplification (who comes up with these awful names?)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10691779

But if it produces a simpler tax system then I can deal with the silly names.

Here is another story about how banks aren't passing on the cheaper cost of borrowing to mortgage owners; I presume it is the same for small businesses.

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7900132/Cheaper-mortgage-costs-not-passed-to-borrowers.h tml

The banks need to be regulated far better. It has become significantly cheaper for them to finance their lending; if they were forced to passed the savings on then millions of businesses would benefit.

Sounds like a vapid PR exercise in response to the DM

I hope it isn't. The fact that they are looking at IR35 gives me hope - it was an appalling piece of "assume everyone is guilty" legislation which really hurt the UK contractor market.

Yes, it would be helpful if they repeal IR35. Let's hope the office of tax simplification fulfil their remit.

This is erm, interesting

uk plcs surprised at the speed of the cuts

I really do wonder whether there is any joined up thinking with theses guys, or whether they are sitting there going "shit, yeah, hadn't thought about that"

That is hardly a surprise. Companies which depend so heavily on the public sector will get hit when the public sector gets cut.

Big companies like Serco and Accenture will also get hit if the government and local authorities purchase more from small and medium companies (which they haven't done yet - but they say that they plan for 25% of government business to come from small business).

We're holding out a lot of hope for the review of IR35. The system is a complete nightmare right now with no one sure what is okay and what's not and it's caused a lot of stress for us (and my close friend who's DH was investigated but was fine in the end - the problem is that he couldn't be sure he was (and had no intention of fudging anything either!). Having a small company is a risk and the government should make it as simple as possible for us to know what the rules are and abide by them.

Also the reduction of corporation tax is appreciated!!!

just noticed this thread is more than a week out of date - sorry!