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The response of the nation's construction SMEs to Gordon Brown's budget speech has been mixed.
FMB Director General Richard Diment reacted angrily to news that the chancellor is raising the tax rate on small companies to offset reductions in corporation tax. He said: "SMEs have enough to worry about with the seemingly endless red tape and its disproportionate effects on small firms, without having to stump up extra cash to subsidise a tax cut for the big boys as well. The chancellor needs to realise that the SMEs are the life blood of any industry, and that they should be helped, not hindered, by the country's taxation policies."
Richard Diment also attacked the Chancellor's attempts to "Green wash", his budget, saying: "The exemption from stamp duty of all new zero carbon homes, and the increase on land fill tax are a distraction aimed at green washing his budget. If he seriously wants to deal with carbon emissions associated with domestic dwellings, he needs to look at the majority of the existing housing stock which is not environmentally friendly, not the tiny proportion that are zero rated, and if he wants to be serious about waste, he needs to look at the facilities and incentives for recycling, not just making it more expensive to bury rubbish."
However, the extra spending on education was welcomed, albeit with a note of caution. FMB National President Geoff Lister welcomed the extra spending on education announced in the budget, saying: "The education system in this country has been failing to supply sufficiently skilled individuals for training by industry for some time, and I am glad to see that the chancellor has recognised the problem and devoted resources to tackling it. The priority for the government now, is to see that the extra cash results in extra skills. Employers should not have to spend the first few months of a training course, making up for the deficiencies of the current system, and the sooner it is sorted out the better."
First posted: 26 March 2007. Last modified: 26 March 2007
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