With one of the most austere budgets in recent history announced by the coalition government, the County Press spoke to businesses and business groups to find out what they thought.
KEY ISSUES:
• VAT will rise from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent from next January.
• Plans to tax landline telephones to pay for broadband programmes were scrapped.
• Public sector pay was frozen for two years for workers earning more than £21,000.
• The National Insurance threshold at which employers pay contributions will rise by more than £21 a week.
• Small companies’ tax rate reduced by one per cent, to 20 per cent.
• Corporation tax, a tax on company profits, will be cut to 27 per cent next year and by a further one per cent for each of the following three years.
• Consumer price inflation expected to reach 2.7 per cent by the end of the year.
Kevin Smith, chief executive IW Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry
"We welcome the budget’s emphasis on reducing debt and building up business.
"There are elements which are a recognition of the need to support the private sector — for example, the one per cent reduction in corporation tax and the commitment to not reduce spending.
"But we believe the Island and its workforce deserve special support. It is particularly important we are granted the same status as areas such as the south west, so we can do more to stimulate the economy.
"As a starting point, new companies on the Island should qualify for exemption for the first £5,000 of National Insurance contributions, which applies to up to ten employees for their first year of work, which is being offered to other areas of the country."
• More on the effects of the budget on Island business in the Friday, July 9, County Press.
Reporter: ross.findon@iwcp.co.uk