…as directors take a swipe at high taxes
TAX burdens on businesses are barely any lighter under the coalition government than under Labour, the Institute of Directors (IoD) will claim today.
Despite cuts to corporation tax, a wave of other taxes are continuing to weigh down growth in the economy, the IoD, led by Miles Templeman (pictured) will say.
National insurance, business rates and road fuel duty cause some small and medium sized firms (SMEs) to face tax rates between 32 and 43 per cent, it reports.
Given these rates, the reductions in corporation tax “will do little or nothing to help smaller businesses”, it adds.
“Plans to reduce corporation tax rates need to be much more ambitious than they currently are, and the rate of employers’ national insurance contributions also needs to come down,” said IoD head of taxation, Richard Baron.
Chancellor George Osborne’s tax rise on North Sea oil will also be targeted by the IoD. “All this will do is crush productive sectors of the economy which the government should be nurturing,” Baron added.
The Confederation of British Industry yesterday called the North Sea hike the “single biggest failure” of the government’s tax record so far.
“Everyone needs to understand the true size of the tax burden,” Baron said.
“Campaign groups like UK Uncut would be more likely to achieve their objectives if they spent more time understanding the consequences of high taxes. If businesses cannot thrive because of a high tax burden, funding for public services will dry up.”