By james art They say increases in the employer cost base will increase the burden on businesses.
Angela McGowan, director of CBI Northern Ireland, described a tough budget for businesses.
“While the Corporation Tax Roadmap will help create much-needed stability, companies in Northern Ireland still have to compete with a rate of just 15% a few miles down the road in the Republic of Ireland,” she said.
“Increases in National Insurance contributions along with other increases in the employer’s cost base will increase the burden on business and hit the ability to invest and ultimately make it more expensive to hire people or raise wages.”
Alan Lowry, political chair of the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland, said most of the tax increases would fall on businesses.
“Amid these new taxes, the real test of today’s Budget will be whether small businesses can grow and end the economic stagnation the UK is stuck in,” he said.
“Many SMEs will struggle with the increase in Employer’s National Insurance on top of the significant increases in the national minimum wage and the large cost implications of the proposed employment law reforms.
“Amid challenges, today’s Budget will take time to digest, but it appears to indicate a direction in business policy for the whole of Parliament, where support will be directed to smaller businesses rather than large corporations, but where the significant amount of revenue that the government wants to collect will come directly from business.
Suzanne Wylie, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also expressed concern.
“While businesses recognize the need to stabilize public finances and support investment in public services, the alarming acceleration of the tax burden on business is deeply concerning,” she said.
“In the absence of substantial growth, this will add to already high business costs and is likely to affect confidence and investment intentions.”
“There are still unknowns for business in Northern Ireland.
“While the extra £1.5bn of funding for the region is welcome, we need the NI Chief Executive to take immediate action to publish his draft budget so we can start delivering greater certainty for people and businesses here too .
“The Chancellor has announced a wide range of initiatives designed to boost economic growth in the UK in high-growth sectors such as defence, space, life sciences and clean energy.
“We need to ensure that Northern Ireland gets its fair share of this.”
Joel Neill, chief operating officer of Hospitality Ulster, said the budget had done nothing but increase the cost of doing business.
“While our colleagues in the hospitality industry in England and Wales are rightly upset at the reduction in business relief from 75% to 40% announced in today’s Budget, hospitality businesses in Northern Ireland have never taken part in this relief,” he said .
“Combined with budget increases to the National Minimum Wage and Living Wage, an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions and a reduction in the threshold for those contributions, today’s Budget will do nothing but increase the cost of doing business in the hospitality industry.”
“We all want people to pay more.
“Our members want to reward good work and make work pay, but what is being asked of business is simply unsustainable if taxes are going to be raised at the same time.
“Without an extension of interest relief for the hospitality business in Northern Ireland or a reduction in VAT, these measures will only threaten employment and business in the sector.”