Skip to main content

Welsh Small Businesses Hit With £99.4 Million Tax Bombshell

 

Small and medium-sized businesses across Wales, from tech start-ups to hairdressers and cafes, will pay an extra £99.4 million a year due to the rise in national insurance, research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has found.

 Boris Johnson broke his 2019 manifesto promise by raising employer National Insurance Contributions by 1.25 per cent, impacting thousands of small businesses. House of Commons Library research has detailed the impact of this tax rise on small businesses across the country. It is estimated that the average micro-business employing up to 9 people will pay more than £1,000 extra a year as a result of the tax hike. 

The top 10 most impacted areas of Wales include the country’s business hubs in major cities and local authorities with a high number of small businesses, including rural regions. As well as the capital, Swansea, Carmarthenshire, Powys and Pembrokeshire are all expected to hundreds of thousands extra in tax following the broken promise.

Ahead of the budget, the Liberal Democrats are calling for small businesses to be offered a lifeline by slashing their employer’s national insurance contributions instead of raising them. 

Under the party’s proposals, the Employment Allowance would be quadrupled from £4,000 to £16,000 for at least two years, meaning taxes on small businesses would be slashed by £5.5 billion next year.

Jane Dodds MS, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats commented on the findings:

“The Tories’ broken manifesto promise will create a tax bombshell for the small businesses that are the backbone of our communities. It’s little wonder that voters no longer see the Conservative party as the party of low tax.

“We have already lost far too many treasured shops from our high streets, and too many businesses are drowning in tax rises and red tape. 

“Rishi Sunak must give small businesses the chance to grow again instead of clobbering them with a crippling tax rise.  The Chancellor is out of touch with small businesses and if he truly cared about their survival, he would cancel this tax hike immediately. 

“The Liberal Democrats want to unleash the power of small businesses to create jobs and drive our economic recovery, by giving them the tax cut they need and deserve.”

 

Areas in Wales hit by small business tax bombshell by local authority:

Local authority 

Small business tax increase per year

Cardiff

£11.7m

Swansea

£7.2m

Carmarthenshire

6.4m

Powys

6.4m

Pembrokeshire

5.8m

Rhondda Cynon Taff

5.7m

Flintshire

5.0m

Gwynedd

 

4.9m

Conwy

4.4m

Caerphilly

4.3m

Newport

4.2m

Wrexham

4.1m

Bridgend

4.0m

Denbighshire

3.9m

Monmouthshire

3.8m

Vale of Glamorgan

3.7m

Neath Port Talbot

3.3m

Ceredigion

3.1m

Torfaen

2.5m

Isle of Anglesey

2.3m

Blaenau Gwent

1.4m

Merthyr Tydfil

1.3m

 

 

Labels:
Location: Wales, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jeremy Hunt’s Financial Statement Offers Only Uncertainty for Welsh Families

  Commenting on Jeremy Hunt’s shock economic intervention Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:   “Hunt’s statement points to the despicable damage that the Conservatives continue to wreck on households, businesses and individuals. All his statement today has done is cause wider uncertainty for households and the businesses sector.   “The Conservatives are trashing the economy with every day that passes and creating havoc for peoples’ mortgages. Now they are planning to inflict even more suffering by raising energy bills, hiking taxes and slashing crucial public services. These service cuts will see knock-on effects to the Welsh Government as budgets for key departments like education and health may be squeezed even tighter.   “What’s worst is they are still determined to protect oil and gas giants from a proper windfall tax and they are still cutting taxes for the big banks.     “Truss and Kwarteng are symptoms of a wider problem. This entire Conservative par
Post a Comment
Read more

Significant Gaps Remain in Welsh Government Building Safety Announcement

  The Welsh Liberal Democrats have welcomed progress announced today in the Welsh Government’s building safety announcement but have warned significant gaps remain. Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS and Cardiff Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Rhys Taylor addressing building saftey campaigners.   The announcement given by Environment Minister Julie James MS confirmed that 9 property developers have now signed up to the Welsh Government’s “Developers Pact” agreeing in theory their responsibility to remediate buildings they constructed with safety defects.   The announcement follows a lengthy campaign by leaseholders in the five years since the Grenfell Tower Disaster.   However, three major developers are still yet to reply.   The Welsh Liberal Democrats have stated that due to the Welsh Government’s failure to work with the UK Government on the Building Safety Act, they are left with little to no options to deal with the property developers who have refuse
Post a Comment
Read more

Welsh Lamb Exports to the US Welcome - But the Conservatives Are Paving Over Other Cracks

  Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS. "While we will of course always welcome more export opportunities for our fantastic Welsh produce, Liz Truss and the Conservatives are trying to plaster over the cracks regarding the damage they have already done to the Welsh farming sector.   "That is that they sold out Welsh farmers for cheap trade deals with Australia and New Zealand for nothing in return. This was spearheaded by Liz Truss despite Australian commentators even being in disbelief about how lopsided the deals were.   “Tariff free access by New Zealand in particular poses a direct threat to the survival of the Welsh lamb industry and the communities it supports, including Welsh language communities.   "If Liz Truss was supportive of such poor trade deals already, it does beg the question how much more damage she could do to the sector as the UK seeks revised trading arrangements with the likes of the US, Argentina and Brazil.   “This is of cou
Post a Comment
Read more