The ALMR, the trade body representing Britain’s licensed hospitality industry, has welcomed Conservative proposals to increase the personal allowance for income tax, a measure which it claims will boost discretionary spending and so help to ensure that the hospitality sector is able to grow, invest and continue creating jobs.
The ALMR has persistently argued that tax cuts for lower-income workers are the most effective way to boost disposable income and raised the issue with the Prime Minister, Chancellor, Treasury and Employment Ministers at the Conservative Party Conference this week.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech, ALMR Chief Executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “Reducing the tax paid by low-income workers is an extremely welcome measure that will soon feed back into the economy through increased spending. Not only would this tax cut allow our staff to keep more of their earnings, it will also increase our customers’ disposable income and this will hopefully feed back as higher sales, allowing us to keep investing in our businesses and delivering the vibrant, modern hospitality of which Britain is so rightly proud.”
The hospitality industry has created 37,000 net new jobs already this year but the ALMR believes it could do even more with further reductions in employment taxes. The Government introduced an Employment Allowance earlier this year and has scrapped Employers’ National Insurance Contributions for under-21 year-olds, but Nicholls called for this to be extended to under-25s:
“Our latest employment survey shows that almost 77% of workers in pubs and bars are over 21, underlining the limited potential for measures targeted at under-21s to support growth in our sector. We could do a lot more to get people into work and reward our existing staff if the burden of Employers’ NICs were relaxed, and we look forward to constructive conversations with politicians of all parties to ensure that employment-friendly measures like this have wide support ahead of the 2015 election.”
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