NIC breaks: a tax on the south-east
By Matthew Rock, published 63 days ago in Startups.
Thanks to the coalition government's Budget, it costs £50,000 more to start a business in the south-east than the rest of the UK.
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Speaking in the House of Commons Finance Bill debate, Labour MP for Luton South Gavin Shuker has claimed that, thanks to the introduction of National Insurance reliefs for start-ups outside the south-east (£5,000 tax break on National Insurance Contributions for each of the first ten people they employ), it now costs up to £50,000 more for an entrepreneur to start a business in the south-east of England.
Shuker, one of only two Labour MPs in the east of England, said: "if an entrepreneur wanted to start a new business in the greater south-east, they would find themselves some £50,000 worse off than if they had started their business elsewhere. Let us be clear about the impact. For my constituents in Luton South, that means that moving just two stops up the train line or two junctions up the M1 would effectively give them a £50,000 golden hello for starting up."
Is he right? What are your experiences? Is the coalition government taking an anti south-east stance? Post your comments below.
1 comment.
Barry Stevens 61 days ago.
In principle, the differential seems sensible - too many people and companies are in the South-east and we need to spread them more evenly - £50,000 seems a reasonable incentive to encourage a start-up towards the other regions. What is worrying about the article is that, if the difference kicks in after 2 train stops from Luton, it won't work - it needs to be more biased to the more distant regions and perhaps it needs to be graduated to avoid artificial hot-spots