Sensible suggestions v government blah blah waffle

From the BBC:

Brexit should not overshadow plans to boost growth, a business lobby group conference will be told on Thursday. The biggest challenges facing businesses in the UK are to do with "fundamentals" rather than Brexit, the British Chambers of Commerce says.

"Government can do more than one thing at once," Adam Marshall, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) told BBC 5 live's Wake Up To Money...

Go on, and what sort of stuff does he say that businesses would like to see?

"The best possible Brexit deal will not matter to the UK's competitiveness if the roads remain potholed and congested, if you can't get mobile phone coverage around the UK, if business broadband is poor and companies can't get the people they need because the training system isn't working to deliver for them."

The BCC will call on the government to fund repairs on local roads, improve the capacity of railways and airports, build more houses, get rid of of mobile phone "not-spots", make the apprenticeship system stable and come up with a clear and easy-to-use immigration system.

Those all seem like eminently fair and sensible things that will benefit everybody, not just 'businesses'. And you can quantify them all to some extent, achieved/not achieved.

How does the government respond?

A Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy spokesperson said: "The government's commitment to boosting the productivity and earning power of people and places across the UK remains steadfast. Through our industrial strategy, we are building a Britain fit for the future, with a plan to help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the UK."

It said its £1.7bn Transforming Cities Fund will "address weaknesses in city transport systems while improving connectivity, reducing congestion and introducing new mobility services and technology". The spokesperson added that the government had committed to raising research and development investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 "ensuring our world-class research and innovation base continues to thrive".

WTF does any of that mean? How will we be able to judge afterwards whether the government achieved these things or not?

"BCC calls for freeze on 'iniquitous’ rent increases"

From The Telegraph:

George Osborne should freeze commercial rents and overhaul the "iniquitous" and "broken" system of index-linked automatic rent increases, one of Britain's leading business groups has demanded this weekend.

The British Chambers of Commerce has urged the Chancellor to use his Autumn Statement to "abolish" upward-only rent reviews in a move that it says would boost the economy by enabling more business investment, helping sales and exports.

In its Autumn Statement submission to the Treasury, the BCC said that commercial rents are "an iniquitous privately collected tax that aggravate already uncertain business cash flow and impose hefty new costs".

It has argued that businesses are suffering under the burden of having to "absorb relentless increases in their rents" – levies that are relentlessly increased "no matter the stage of the economic cycle, company performance or ability to pay"…

John Longworth, the director general of the BCC, said: "There is no question that commercial rents hit companies of all sizes long before they a make profit, and acts as a drag on business growth and investment.

"Most of our members pay more in rent than in corporation tax and business rates put together, for very little in return. Firms across the UK have been crying out for relief from this stealth tax for years but, so far, their pleas have been ignored."

Straw man attack of the day

From a Metro article headed Cost of red tape up £10bn in year, a figure which I am perfectly happy to accept as being in the right ballpark and probably an underestimate:

But TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "This tired stunt is well past its sell-by date... Their biggest complaint is working time rules. That might sound bureaucratic but in plain English this is the right for everyone at work to have four weeks paid holiday a year. What business calls red tape, the rest of us call a well-earned rest.

... I suppose we should be grateful that the BCC haven't added in the cumulative costs of the abolition of slavery and stopping children cleaning chimneys."

Why politicians love Value Added Tax (2)

The British Chambers of Commerce have calculated the gummint has raked in an extra £505 million in VAT and North Sea Oil tax* in the last six weeks as a result of oil price rises.

Annualised, that's £4.4 billlion - or enough the increase the tax-free personal allowance by a further £1,000.

This is a very good illustration of "Why politicians love VAT" items 8 & 10.

David Frost's analogy is rather unfortunate though “Seeing the fuel gauge barely move when you put in £20 is frustrating and only going to get worse." Er, David, you don't actually put a £20 note in the tank, you give that to the attendant when you've finished putting petrol in.

* This is in fact a 20% surcharge on the standard rate of corporation tax that North Sea oil companies pay, making their effective rate 48%. Altho' I have said previously that flat-rate corporation- or income-tax is the second least bad tax, firstly, 48% is hardly 'flat' and in situations like this, it acts pretty much like a turnover tax, the worst tax of all.