I m a selfish business owner,?? To be frank, fuck off.
You clearly have no idea how bloody hard it is to run a small business. The Ni rises alone wipe out the last 6 months profits. As for dividends given what we have been through business wise we have had very little opportunities for those.
I suspect you havenât been in a situation where you have cut your own salaryj to ensure your team kept their jobs, like we did during Covid and the financial crisis but then only âselfish business ownersâ would do that.
Funny how many are bleating that NI costs canât be absorbed (& I donât know what your company does) but input costs due to inflation can apparently be covered by price rises or reducing dividends/ drawings without the blink of an eye, but NI rises are somehow different because itâs Labour.
It seems from looking at the media most of the people bleating the loudest are those Daily Heil / Torygraph type of readers who are disgruntled that the Tories lost power and who fell for the hysteria pumped out by said ânewspapersâ.
I think you have been living in the cosseted corporate world too long
The annual cost to an employer of a NMW worker in March 22 was ÂŁ20,785. The cost in April 2025 will be ÂŁ29,218, a 40% increase. When most of a businesses employees are at this level like the hospitality trade, they canât just âgrowâ their way out of this. They will be lucky if their Turnover has grown at all since Covid.
Weâre âluckyâ. This is painful, but doable - there are going to be a lot of businesses out their who canât take it
The reduction in the banding was particularly evil - that adversely impacts the low paid out of all proportion. Why not add an extra 2% on Ers Ni for those employee earning higher tax - those business are more likely to be able to swallow it
Labour are supposed to be the party of people, they have just let the big businesses off the hook and fucked the micro business instead.
Those bleating the loudest appear to be the farmers, (surprise surprise), with the odious gobshite Clarkson leading the charge. But of course, this is what farmers are famous for, if they won the fucking lottery they would be complaining about the colour of the cheque.
The farming one is an interesting conundrum - there are many âfarming familiesâ out there that are hedge fund types who have bought a fuck off great estate as a second home / IHT tax planning. I dont think many people would shed a tear for them.
However there are those genuine family farms passed down generation to generation and the only way they will be able to pay death duties is to sell off a chunk of land. Obviously that strategy has its limits because at some point the farm becomes unviable. One of two things will happen, the land ends up in developers hands (which isnât great for food security) or a corporate farm outfit will buy it which probably isnât brilliant for the community.
Then if you throw in where the farm is, there are more complications. I am guessing that ÂŁ1m in the cotswolds would barely buy the farm house, let the actual land, whereas in you could probably buy half of scotland for that money.
Maybe they should have said the farmhouse and buildings are exempt plus x number of acres of arable / grazing land. Anything after that is fair game
There are over 100,000 smallholdings of less than 20 hectares in the UK. They are a depleting resource but very necessary to local economies. Itâs generally tough for them to make ends meet as it is and theyâre not swimming in cash.
Yeah probably too long in the corporate world but the firm started off as an SME so had the growing pains but made sensible plans to grow
Anyway, have spent the day analysing the impact of the planned IHT charges on pensions and life benefits (well not me doing the heavy lifting obvs ). Clients clamouring to pay for advice. Kerching! Thank you Labour
As everybody knows Iâm not a fan of Labour as currently constituted
But credit works due
After the removal of the winter fuel allowance I was worried at the burden of taxation was going to fall on the working people
And yes thereâs an argument to be made that workers are going to be indirectly affected by the national insurance rise for employers
The argument definitely has merit and especially in service sectors where you can simply get offshore resources. Iâm not sure whether the government realises how big this workforce is. I certainly didnât before joining my new firm
He canât offshore everything. Some kind of corporeal presence is still required for many jobs. That is not going away.
Of course thereâs the massive saving that all of the right wing press and Tory fan boys/girls are avoiding - if employers introduce Salary Sacrifice on pension scheme contributions then NI costs for employers drops significantly- and workers hardly affected if at all - but letâs not stop the knee jerk doom mongers, eh? Clearly a lot of people just believe what they see in the media without stopping to think.
Yes, but see my post above on one way on how to reduce that, if SMEs have a will
There are other legal ways if people bother to speak to their accountants and legal advisers- this is not difficult despite what the media tell themâŚ
I know what you saying - we do some of that, however, is it something that is commonly taken up by 10 person companies or those where they are not that financially savvy? I canât imagine the local coffee shop or cleaning businesses signing up to a salary sacrifice scheme let alone convincing their staff that it is a good idea
I found out recently I have someone working for me that has opted out of the pension because she doesnât want to lose the 5%, even though I would match it. And she is not close to NMW.What can you do?
Even for those that have these schemes, salary sacrifice only covers pension contributions - often 5% or something like that, rarely above 10%, which leaves a lot of salary which is going to be subject to the increased NI.
I doesnât matter about the size of company tbh, though youâd have to spend some time setting it up. Suggest you talk to your pensions adviser to do it properly
It might be difficult at the lower end because employers NI is only payable over the earnings threshold (cÂŁ175 per week I think)
On the opt outs, thereâs no legislating for shortsightedness (or stupidity) If cash is an issue for them they should perhaps be looking for a better paid job?
). Clients clamouring to pay for advice. Kerching! Thank you Labour 
