In mid-July, Sam Dumitriu and Philip Salter were busy writing for the Telegraph, Conservative Home and CapX on the key issue of business tax reform.
Sam wrote for the Telegraph, arguing that the solution to the problem of business rates is obvious – base them on land value.
Furthermore, Sam went on to write an article in Conservative Home, in which he argues that policy-makers should look closely at the regulations and taxations on businesses. Citing an APPG survey, it was noted the taxes that discouraged entrepreneurship the most were business rates.
Our founder, Philip Salter, was writing on the same subject for CapX; saying that tax reform is needed to remain competitive. Philip reasons that regular reviewal by the Treasury to test if policies are cost-effective would be highly beneficial, plus helping to promote property investment. He goes on to write that tax breaks such as the ISA and EIS are both successful and would level the playing field for the smaller, unlisted businesses.
Finally, Stuart Stone’s piece in the MorningAdvertiser comments on the welcoming of a reformed tax by UKHospitality, due to the gross overpaying of the hospitality sector––a £1.8bn sum that is hard to blink. UKHospitality’s chief executive Kate Nicholls says that the tax reformation is “something that we have consistently called for.” and stridently indicates that “The current system of business tax is completely out of date and totally unsuitable[...]”.
Our second report, on female entrepreneurship, has also received extensive press coverage.
Neil Hodgson from TheBusinessDesk wrote an article on the women in leadership paper, quoting the vice chair of the APPG for Entrepreneurship, Seema Malhotra MP, and Lisa McMullan, the organisation’s director for development and consultancy. Lisa stated that ‘it’s about time that we recognise that female entrepreneurship is not only a gender issue, but an economic one, too.’ TheBusinessDesk went on to include some recommendations and highlighted that ‘only a tenth of growing firms with revenue between £1m-£250m are run by women. In the US, this figure is closer to a fifth.’
In the Telegraph, Annabel Denham, wrote about the gender pay gap discussion and how it should help the conversations around female entrepreneurship; calling for the government ‘to review nursery and pre-school teacher-child ratios’ so that self-employed mothers can work ‘while receiving maternity allowance’. Annabel argues that first the societal expectations must be reversed in order for the gender funding gap to be reduced. Annabel ends strongly with ‘If the Government wants UK companies to compete on global markets, it must do all it can to boost the growth of female-led businesses’.
The Telegraph featured the report in their Saturday paper: “Mumpreneur” and “lipstick entrepreneur” are terms Olivia Rudgard, Social Affairs Correspondent at the Telegraph, used to highlight gender stereotypes before stating their harmful effects on girls’ mindsets. Olivia argues that “The media should move away from gender altogether when profiling Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs.” and quotes the women in leadership paper when it states 31% of women say gender is a hindrance when trying to expand their business. This is due to obstacles such as “networking opportunities that favour men”. With the sponsorship of Octopus, headed by Chris Hulatt, the APPG has suggested that the introduction of a paternity allowance might improve gender stereotypes in the office environment. Olivia also called for childcare laws to be changed for more children to be looked after, i.e. a higher teacher-pupil ratio, as “the UK’s ratios are currently “among the stringent in the OECD””. Chris added that “it is critical that women have the same opportunities to realise their ambitions and create the high growth businesses of tomorrow.”
Annabel also wrote for CapX arguing why if we liberalised the childcare system, options for female entrepreneurship would widen.