Since this article was published on 16 November, the Government has released its Autumn statement, the headlines of which are as follows:
- The economy is already in recession, with higher energy prices explaining much of the change in forecasting.
- The threshold for the 45p additional rate of tax will be cut from £150,000 to £125,140.
- Electric vehicles will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty from 2025.
- Windfall taxes will raise £14bn, including a new temporary 45% levy on electricity producers.
- There will be a £14bn tax cut on business rates, reported to benefit 700,000 businesses.
Ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, due to be shared tomorrow (17 November), beam has shared its concerns for the industry and its members.
It’s anticipated that Jeremy Hunt will revoke Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget, which was shared on 23 September.
“We will introduce a plan that will see us through the very choppy waters we are in economically,” Hunt told the BBC.
While the economy remains in flux, the events industry has learned to be wary of Government announcements since the pandemic.
“Our industry has to hope that the Autumn Statement causes limited damage rather than expect any good news,” says Simon Richards, treasurer of beam and managing director of Convenus.
“The Chancellor’s downbeat comments suggest that we should expect tax increases and spending cuts rather than support, even for industries like this struggling to recover from the effects of the pandemic, rising energy costs and talent shortages,” explained Richards.
“The end of energy cost support has already been publicised. The best I think our members can hope for is that councils will not increase business rates when free to increase Council Tax, and that as small business owners, the expected higher tax on dividends will not add too much more on top of the higher Corporation Tax rate.”
Photo credit: Wikipedia.
