Essex Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has expressed anger and disappointment that the Budget announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne today discriminates against successful small businesses in Essex.
Essex FSB Chairman, Iain Wicks, said: “There is no doubt that National Insurance Contributions are a tax on jobs which hit small businesses particularly hard and the FSB has campaigned strongly against the proposed increase as it is clearly a tax on jobs.
“That means the plans to exempt firms from paying up to £5,000 a year in NIC for taking on up to 10 new staff is a move the FSB welcomes but where the plan goes wrong is by excluding businesses in London, the South East and East of England from this scheme.
“The Chancellor rightly claims that in those Regions, which includes Essex, many private sector jobs have been created in the last 10 years but that should not mean that we are now penalised because of that success.
“This aspect of the Budget clearly discriminates against businesses in Essex and undermines the Chancellor’s claim that this is a ‘fair’ budget.
“Essex FSB wishes to see this NIC exemption applied across the whole country and urge the Chancellor to think again on the discriminatory nature of his current plans.”
