Letter: Government help for small business? I’d welcome it
Monday 13th June 2011, 6:00AM BST.
Letter: In 2009 I was made redundant and decided to set up my own shop selling outdoor clothing and equipment. In April 2010 we opened in the Telford Shopping Centre.
The six months I spent getting everything in place were hard and stressful, and the year we have been open has been even more stressful. In this time I have worked with numerous companies, big and small, and in every instance we have encountered a level of helpfulness I was not expecting.
Everybody from landlords to utility companies and suppliers have assisted us and tried to make the first couple of years as easy as possible. Only one group of people have been impossible to reason with: HM Government.
Their attitude to retailers is frankly disgusting as they have set about raising VAT to 20 per cent and refused to adopt any measures that would make it possible to open up a new shop. But it is business rates that are truly ridiculous.
This a tax on retailers in much the same way council tax is on your home, only in this case the yearly charge for a reasonably-sized shop in a good location would buy you a three-bed semi.
I have approached my local MP and the Secretary of State for Local Communities and have received the usual political platitudes pointing out what they are doing to support business, which is frankly rubbish.
The appointment of Mary Portas is a publicity stunt as the recommendations she will make will require Mr Osborne to unhinge his purse strings – which he won’t.
Mark Tarran
All Terrain Stores
Telford
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Pay your taxes.
How else will the illiterati afford to have 12 kids a piece.
Selfish.
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Well if you are good enough and viable you will survive granted the same should go for all in business including some farmers who are subsidized as though it is a right.
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I am slightly concerned about the content in this letter. Surely, before going into business like this you would have drawn up a full business plan. This should have obviously included all the expenses you were likely to incur and should also have looked to the future. It was well known that VAT was going to increase and a quick call to the Council would have told you approximately your business rates per annum. As a small business owner myself I am extremely careful with cash flow and always know my anticipated expenditure for the following 12 months – alright so sometimes I’m out in my estimates but I would rather over than under estimate.
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And your point is?
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