What the Budget means for Company Formation Owners

While the Emergency Budget didn’t include any great surprises for the small business and company formation sector, its implications will have a number of consequences for enterprise in the UK. We ask a number of small business owners and owners of recently formed companies, what they think about the coalition’s Emergency Budget June 2010;

Michelle Dylan, owner of an online retail company

I was really interested to see how the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives would overcome any ideological differences to formulate the coalition’s first real piece of economic policy and surprisingly I am impressed. Yes the increase in taxation will be tough for all small business owners – especially those like me who are in the retail sector – but I don’t think the impact reducing National Insurance and Corporation tax should under estimated.

The one area where I do wish the government had listened more to the feedback of many business owners – of which Lord Alan Sugar was one – is increasing Capital Gains Tax.

He talked of extending the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. However, the EFG is broken! It was supposed to help banks lend to entrepreneurs without requiring large personal guarantees, but the banks are not honoring that and still will not share any of the risk. The EFG needs fixing before it gets extended.

Sarah Wilson, entrepreneur and owner of her own PR Company

I was encouraged by the Emergency Budget, as the changes in National Insurance and reduction of Corporation tax indicates that the coalition government is making an effort to positively support the SME sector.

However, I think that the budget ignored one of the main issues which are facing small businesses – a limited access to finance. Sure they said that they plan to extend the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, but the fact is it is not working ; banking still aren’t lending to small business and this fact not only needs to be address by the government, but also acted upon