Small businesses can look forward to less red tape, fewer tax payments and their own financial advice agency if the Green Party is elected, according to a policy document introduced by the party yesterday. Gabrielle Monaghan reports.
The measures would help develop domestic enterprises and reduce Ireland's reliance on foreign investment, according to Eamon Ryan, the Green Party's spokesman for enterprise, trade and employment.
This goal has been the conclusion of all the three major enterprise strategy reviews undertaken by the State in the past 30 years, the TD said.
The party aims to create a "new vibrant economy" by cutting taxes on employment and replacing them with a carbon levy in a bid to encourage heavy industries to reduce their energy consumption. Current rates of corporate and income tax will remain intact.
"If the proceeds of such a carbon levy were equally divided between reductions in employers' PRSI and VAT and an increase in social welfare contributions to cover fuel poverty concerns, it would have a net positive effect and stimulate our economy," Mr Ryan said.
"Anyway, most growing businesses in our economy are in the services industry, such as software and IT companies, which aren't heavily reliant on energy."
The party also intends to replace commercial rates with taxes based on land valuations to ensure developers pay their share. Commercial rates, which provide local authorities with a quarter of their funding, cost businesses €1 billion last year, up from €580 million in 2000.
A site-value tax would encourage more efficient and productive use of land, leading to more funding for local services, the policy paper showed. "For too long land speculators have been favoured by this Government at the expense of small business," said finance spokesman Dan Boyle.
The biggest obstacles facing small enterprises in southern Dublin, for instance, are the cost of premises, a lack of transport infrastructure and difficulty finding suitable employees, a Green Party survey found. Combating these problems would help make Irish companies compete better at home and abroad, according to Mr Boyle.
In a bid to tackle over-regulation of small businesses, the Green Party would cut back on bureaucracy by reducing VAT and increasing the audit exemption limit. It also plans to set up a financial advice agency for small businesses to ensure they receive the right banking products. Ireland's two largest banks still dominated the small business banking market, the party said.
