Lancashire’s business community will once again be counting the cost of tax rises following the Budget announcement.
While there was some support for businesses, there is still a lack of clarity for a growth plan, say the North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce.
Policies to support youth employment, stamp duty relief, safeguards for capital expenditure and a decrease in business rates multipliers and select investment tax incentives, are welcomed, though there isn’t much for county businesses to shout about.
Lancashire’s hospitality sector, which employs thousands, will bear the brunt of having to spend more with minimum wages being raised which could lead to more redundancies and shorter hours.
And the Treasury’s hike on salary sacrifice schemes will mean employers and employees will face higher tax and national insurance contributions leading to increased costs to both the business and their employees.
Commenting on the Budget, Babs Murphy, chief executive of the Chamber, said: “As businesses have been squeezed in all directions of the last 12 months, measures in today’s Budget to boost growth were few and far between.
“Companies are still reeling from the impact of last year budget, which included increases in national insurance, the removal of business rates relief and a surge of additional costs. That single Budget pushed thousands of businesses to the edge, with many ultimately falling over it.
“The numbers speak for themselves with record numbers of closures and hundreds of thousands of jobs lost. Now, before they’ve had a chance to recover, businesses are facing hundreds of pounds more each week in the increase of the minimum wage.
“Others will raise their prices just to keep their doors open. This is a harsh reality of running a small business with slim profit margins and a shrinking customer base.
“With unemployment on the rise, the government should have used the budget to help reduce cost burdens on businesses and focused on investing in economic growth, enabling firms to generate more opportunities and create jobs.”
