{"id":67953,"date":"2025-10-11T13:14:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/67953\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T13:14:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:14:26","slug":"bruised-businesses-fear-bad-news-in-budget-on-tax-and-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/67953\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bruised\u2019 businesses fear bad news in budget on tax and inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s \u201cbruised\u201d businesses are worried about the prospect of rising taxes and high inflation before next month\u2019s budget, a survey found.<\/p>\n

A quarterly measure of sentiment<\/a> in the private sector from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) was unchanged in September and at similar levels recorded in 2022. A third of companies said they expected no change to their turnover in the next 12 months and 48 per cent said they projected an increase.<\/p>\n

That is down from 49 per cent in the second quarter and 58 per cent during the same period last year, before Rachel Reeves\u2019s first budget. A fifth of companies said their revenues were on course to fall.<\/p>\n

The survey measured responses from 4,600 companies. More than 90 per cent of them small and medium-sized businesses.<\/p>\n

The findings echo recent polls that reflect pre-budget nerves about the rising tax burden and concerns after Labour raised employers\u2019 national insurance contributions<\/a> (NICs) this year. The BCC said tax changes were the biggest worry for companies, cited by 59 per cent. This compares to 36 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, before the general election.<\/p>\n

Inflation has also returned as a source of concern: annual price growth is expected to hit 4 per cent because of rising food and utility costs. The survey said 57 per cent of businesses were worried about inflation, the highest proportion since the start of last year. <\/p>\n

The NICs rise, combined with the lift to the national living wage, has also contributed to food price inflation by squeezing margins for retailers who have passed on costs to consumers, according to the Bank of England.<\/p>\n

David Bharier, head of research at the BCC, said firms \u201cremain bruised and are not ready for another budget battering\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe research reveals no clear improvements to key indicators we track. For 12 months SMEs have told us the same story: rising costs, weak investment and little sense of relief on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployer NICs has been the most widely cited source of pressure, hitting investment and pushing up prices. The proportion of businesses expecting to raise prices remains worryingly high, driven primarily by labour costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Shevaun Haviland: We have a golden opportunity to create a new \u2018Brand Britain 2.0\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The chancellor has not ruled out further tax increases next month as the government needs to find \u00a330 billion to hit its fiscal rules with the same breathing space recorded in March. The government is exploring wealth taxes on property, pensions and land over more income tax rises, according to officials.<\/p>\n

The BCC cited a medium-sized transport company in Aberdeen, which said: \u201cCosts are spiralling out of control in almost all cost areas. The burden of taxation is becoming too high to live with.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s \u201cbruised\u201d businesses are worried about the prospect of rising taxes and high inflation before next month\u2019s budget,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-67953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}