SMEs call for tax cuts as budget approaches

The brother of ex-chief whip Andrew Mitchell has called for George Osborne to cut taxes on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to boost growth.

Graham Mitchell has gathered a group of small businesses in protest over current government tax rates in the country, calling for tight public finances to lower the burden on business. The group have called for the chancellor to think big in his next budget, outlining a clear path to recovery which will bring much-needed growth with it.

The Fourth Agenda

The Fourth Agenda has been launched by Mr Mitchell days before the budget as a channel for small business impatience with the coalition’s economic policies. He told the Daily Telegraph that business growth is being hampered by “narrow and incompetent career politicians with no breadth of experience of real working life”, adding that the economy is being run like a “wasteful expense account”.

The new movement has been dubbed the Fourth Agenda because Mr Mitchell believes the coalition is continuing with the same high spending policies as Tony Blair’s Third Way. Government spending is continuing to rise which is why public sector costs have been outlined as a priority for freeing up much-needed cash and injecting it back into the economy.

“We need a new voice in politics to help businesses – small firms are the ones that create the wealth that pay for the public services,” Mr Mitchell said.

One of the key demands coming from the organisation is to allow small firms with less than 250 employees to be allow to take on hire staff as self-employed individuals.This would free red tape, liabilities and legal dangers of taking on more staff. “If just half the five million SMEs in Britain hired someone, unemployment and the deficit could be tackled,” Mr Mitchell said.