The Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce would like to congratulate the Treasury Minister on his budget this morning.
The additional funding of nearly ?1m for the Department of Education and Children to turn the Hills Meadow training centre into a dedicated engineering training centre of excellence is particularly welcomed. This is a project Chamber has been supporting and we will continue to work very closely with the Isle of Man College to see this to fruition.
Chris Allen, Chair of the Manufacturing and Technical Industries Committee said ‘Many businesses in these sectors are currently boasting significant growth and skills shortages are threatening to limit this. The industry has worked together with the Departments of Education and Children and Economic Development to develop the course content and approach and the sector has committed to recruit their future apprentices directly from this course.’
Deb Byron, Chair of the ICT and E-business Committee welcomed the additional marketing fund of ?350,000 for the ICT sector, commenting ‘ICT is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy, providing the backbone of the digital revolution and transforming the way people live and work. The importance of the ICT sector as a key contributor to the Island’s economic development and employment continues to build and the additional marketing fund will help to promote growth, innovation and entrepreneurialism.’
With more than 1,100 new jobs that have been created over the past two years, Chamber agrees with the Treasury Minister that confirmation of the National Insurance holiday for employers until April 2015 will continue to encourage employers to create job opportunities.
Introducing a five year election for the Tax Cap will bring certainty and gives reassurance of the continuance of the scheme enabling the Island to attract more wealthy entrepreneurs who in turn, have created jobs and contributed far more to the exchequer than it has cost to cap that individuals personal tax. It is also a welcome closing of the switching in and out of the scheme loophole.
Making it compulsory for companies to file annual tax returns online will reduce the administrative burden on the tax office and an initiative Chamber supports in reducing Government costs. Chamber would like to see further initiatives of a similar nature. Online Company Registry filing is long overdue and we are disappointed this has still not been introduced.
The private sector is the engine of growth of the economy. Job creation leads to increasing Government revenues. Chamber supports Government in their work to create a business friendly foundation for business to flourish.
However, we all need to be mindful that economic growth alone cannot get the job done in rebalancing the budget. Government needs to demonstrate real cuts to the costs of running Government. How far this budget goes in tackling this issue is open to different opinions and will be much discussed in the coming days. Slash and burn is not the answer nor is ignoring the fact that we simply don’t have the revenues to continue to pay for all our services.
