Over the past few weeks I have been serving on the Finance Bill committee in the House of Commons.

We are examining what Gordon Brown’s Budget will actually mean to people when it becomes law.  It is time consuming and it is hard work, but it is a good opportunity to examine how far his words match with the legislation.

It is fascinating to note that the Chancellor made a headline of what appeared to be a 2% cut in income tax.  However when we look beneath the headline and read deep into the small print, it becomes clear that while he is giving with one hand, he is taking with the other as he removed the 10p tax band and took the equivalent amount of money straight back from average income earners and, worse still, took money from the pockets of the least well-off and most vulnerable. 

Some of the less well-reported proposals related to the rise in tax and bureaucracy for small businesses.  Small and medium sized businesses make up the 99% of all enterprise, employ about 60% of the work force and contribute more than half the business tax-take for the Exchequer.  But the Finance Bill will make the life of smaller businesses and their owners much harder.  Whilst tax avoidance and anti-fraud measures are of course welcome, their impact upon perfectly honest small enterprise has not been thought through properly, and many small businesses will see their red tape burden increase dramatically.

I, and my colleagues, are determined to scrutinise the Bill very closely indeed in order to protect tax payers, the least well-off and small business owners.  Sadly if the Labour Government want to push through the Finance Bill, they will, but over the next few weeks we hope to ease some of the unnecessary pressures the Chancellor seeks to impose on so many of us.