IBEC brands bill a ‘disappointment’

THE Finance Bill presents no new measures to support enterprise and employment, according to employers’ group IBEC, which branded yesterday’s proposals “a major disappointment”.

And bringing forward pay and file dates for self- assessment taxpayers from October 31 to September 30 has been attacked by the Irish Taxation Institute, which said the move is not good news for businesses in terms of cash- flow, adding that “those already experiencing cash- flow difficulties would be placed under greater pressure with the earlier filing date”.

IBEC chief economist Fergal O’Brien said: “It’s very disappointing to see that there is practically nothing in this Finance Bill targeted at trying to get people back to work. Following a budget that put excessive taxes on labour and increased employment costs for businesses, we’d hoped to see measures in the Bill that would support enterprise and employment.

“The bill sets out the detail of the Employment and Investment Scheme, which was announced on Budget day, but apart from that it’s very difficult to point to anything in this bill aimed at addressing the jobs crisis.”

Business is particularly disappointed that Government has not done anything to advance the smart economy, he said.

“Business had hoped to see new measures to improve Ireland’s R&D offering and improve the tax treatment of intellectual property,” he added.