Accountant calls for axe on red tape
A leading accountant has called on the Government to cut the red tape stranglehold on small businesses.
John Green, president of the North West Society of Chartered Accountants, said whichever political party wins this year's general election must make simplifying the tax system for companies a key priority.
The Conservatives have pledged to create an office for tax simplification if they win power, while the Government has previously promised to cut back on unnecessary red tape.
The Treasury recently requested recommendations for change from the national Society of Chartered Accountants, which placed tax simplification at the top of its agenda.
Mr Green said: "There are 11,000 pages of tax legislation and 2,000 alone are dedicated to anti-avoidance measures, how is your average small businessman supposed to get through all that?
"The change of VAT from 17.5% to 15% was a prime example, on that day we must have had 20 clients on to us panicking because they were not geared up to do anything other than 17.5%.
"Then they had to do it all again in reverse when it went back to 15%, so any benefit there was to any business went completely out the window."
He added that application process grants available to small firms, which have increased during the economic downturn, also needed simplifying to encourage businesses to take them up.
The accountant, who is also chief executive at Blackburn-based accountants Pierce, said he had experienced difficulty when trying to secure funds for clients through schemes including the Enterprise Guarantee Fund.
Mr Green said: "It is very difficult for a small businessman to get a grant these days and I do think it would be much simpler to revert to the old regional development grants.
"Now you have to show that you are not such a lame duck that you are going to fail and yet that you are not so successful that you do not need the money."
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Weather for Preston
Thursday 29 July 2010
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