I can't believe the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship has been so badly overlooked by the current chancellor. In a global economy such as ours, where so much is commoditised, ideas and innovation will be what allows Britain to remain competitive in the long term. Given that much of what will drive our economy in years to come will be the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) and services sectors it is vital that innovation is very much encouraged by the government. Small and medium-sized businesses are the engine of our economy - providing half of all the jobs and accounting for approximately half of our GDP.

Currently there are very few incentives to build businesses in the UK and taper relief was one of them.

By removing taper relief, in one fell swoop, the chancellor has:

- removed one of the main reasons to start businesses in the UK (people can expect a better return on their capital elsewhere)

- left little reason for many businesses to stay in the UK (low skilled workers with higher wages - we are potentially better off elsewhere)

- made it much harder to recruit and keep the talented individuals without the EMI options scheme benefits (1.7 million workers)

- made it more difficult to raise capital to allow some excellent businesses to start and/or continue.

We have set up a Facebook group, 'Entrepreneurs Against the Abolition of Taper Relief' to petition against this move. It's important to use as many mediums as possible, to garner as much support as possible for something that is likely to have such a negative impact on our economy. I have already alerted both the chancellor and the Shadow chancellor (via email) to the Facebook group and have asked them to join to give their comments. Facebook is a good place to see comments and interaction, it also allows for discussion between all the members – there are already 401 memebers with 28 comments and 11 posted items.

There’s been fantastic press coverage about the CGT changes in the Sunday business papers as well - the drive to make some changes to this proposed policy is certainly gaining momentum.

 
 To sign the petition on the Downing Street website, visit: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CGTforSMEs/


Sarah McVittie is the co-founder and CEO of Texperts (www.texperts.com )