Rebecca Leavers, research project manager at the FPB, says members were worried about changes to the tax regime, “82% of respondents said that the hike in the Corporation Tax rate for smaller businesses would be damaging to their company. Only 5.5% said a cut in the main rate of Corporation Tax from 30 to 28% would be very helpful, whilst 51.6 % said it wasn’t relevant to their business."

Lynn Willrich, owner and Financial Director of DJ Willrich, an audio-visual and multimedia specialists in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, says smaller businesses have been forgotten by the Government. "We are a very small company and we are being hit from all angles. We feel as though we are paying the price for big companies getting a tax break. What is beneficial for the bigger firms is to the detriment of the smaller companies. Small businesses keep the economy afloat, why are they being penalised? The Government should be helping us not hindering us."

The survey also found that tax allowances designed to encourage investment in companies were not appealing to smaller businesses. Miss Leavers said the majority of respondents felt that they would not be able to take advantage of them. She added, "73% said increasing research and development tax credit was not relevant to their business and 64% said the same of new tax credits for environmental investment."

Lynn Willrich says the Chancellor’s allowances will be of no help to her company: "Research and development isn’t relevant to us, we are in the service sector. There is not much else we can do on the environment front, we already dispose of our electrical waste environmentally. Again it will be the bigger companies that will benefit as they are generally more wasteful."

There was some good news for the Chancellor, with 56% of respondents indicating that allowing 100% relief for new capital investment up to £50,000 would be of some use. The general consensus however was that the Budget would do little to support smaller businesses, which makes up the majority of the private sector.

The FPB’s research also found:

•  83% of respondents said increasing fuel duty by 2p would be damaging
• 74% said the increase in the VAT threshold from £61,000 to £64,000 was not relevant to their business
• 31% thought that an increase business rates for empty properties would be damaging, whilst 58% said it was not relevant to their business

The FPB has also questioned the need for the Government to launch a scheme with larger retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury, ASDA, B&Q and Marks & Spencer to help people complete training to find work. About 71% of the FPB’s members surveyed said such a scheme would not be relevant to their business. However, 44% said that it would be of some help to smaller businesses that take on an employees needing to acquire the most basic of skills if £2,000, or in some cases £3,000, training help per employee could be provided.