Responding to today’s Spring Statement, Tej Parikh, Senior
Economist at the Institute of Directors, said:
“The Chancellor was right to stick to his guns and avoid too much
tinkering today. Businesses have had to deal with plenty of new
costs over the last few years, including the apprenticeship levy,
immigration skills charge and pensions auto-enrolment, so they
will be relieved to see a no-frills statement. This was an upbeat
and pro-business speech. IoD members will be pleased to see that
growth is currently beating the forecasts and the deficit is
falling.
“Better short-term economic figures will reassure business
leaders that there is underlying resilience in the UK economy,
but the Chancellor was also right to point to the long-term
productivity challenge. The OBR continued to be downbeat on
productivity growth, with recent increases largely driven by a
fall in hours worked, rather than a pick-up in output. As such,
the Government must continue to push forward with its proposals
in November’s Industrial Strategy and make clearer to businesses
how it will bolster skills, infrastructure, and innovation.”
On the Corporate tax and the
digital economy consultation, Stephen Herring, Head
of Taxation, said:
“The IoD agrees with the Government’s view that the taxation of
certain global business models may well require action under the
auspices of the OECD. We would be concerned if measures were
introduced just in the UK, or in a limited number of countries,
as this would risk driving these businesses (and the high-value
jobs they provide) to countries which don’t take the same action.
This would be a bad outcome for the UK.”
On the Taxation of self-funded
work related training consultation, Stephen Herring,
said:
“We welcome Government’s acknowledgment in the Chancellor’s
Spring Statement that a broader, simpler, compliance-friendly tax
relief to encourage individuals to undertake training which will
directly benefit the UK economy is necessary. Hopefully, the
outcome of the Consultation will provide a sufficiently generous
but focussed new tax relief for those individuals who do not
already benefit from courses provided by their employers.”
