Over the past 20 years small businesses have been promised more than thirty times by different British governments that they are going to address the problem of red tape that stifles small businesses. This budget it seems will finally address this long standing issue.

Gordon Brown has promised to get rid of unnecessary regulation that stops small companies from progressing by bringing the UK into line with the Dutch enterprise model based on cutting red tape through targets.

The Director General of the British Chambers of commerce who met with the Chancellor last week said he was encouraged at the chancellor's promise to cut the excessive red tape burden faced by small businesses.

While this is good news for small business owners, the federation of Small Business says small businesses will be skeptical until they see Mr. Brown delivers on his promises.

Reasons to be hopeful that the Chancellor is not making empty promises include the following:

. Gordon Brown visit to China put into focus the burden faced by small business in the UK. In China the whole emphasis is on deregulation.

. He is also due to announce the creation of an executive body to oversee future regulations in a new "one in, one out" approach to business compliance. The body, known as the Better Regulation Executive, will implement recommendations made under last year's Hampton Review, which set out to examine inspection and enforcement regimes.

Mike Warburton, senior partner at Grant Thornton said "If the government's desire is to encourage entrepreneurship, then it must provide tax incentives that are genuinely fair to people who are starting up on their own by introducing tax rates that are lower that apply to company employees," he said.

"At present, there is no level playing field. Lowering the tax rates for small companies would be an incentive to ordinary people to break the mould of being an employee and help them to do extraordinary things."

Based on Sunday Times article

David
Small Business Resource