Last week the Government announced a 52% cut in the amount spent on advertising and marketing, leading to 287 redundancies.
One of the few Government campaigns to escape the axe was the HMRC’s ‘paying business taxes’ series of adverts which surely reveals a determination to ensure that businesses don’t escape their tax paying responsibilities. Freelancers and contractors should be on their guard.
Some members of the contracting community may have been drawn into a false sense of security by the Government’s decision to review IR35, but this news should confirm that during difficult economic times, government’s will always be tough on taxation.
The message seems pretty simple: we’ll show you how easy it is to keep up with you tax responsibilities, so that if you fail in doing so, all excuses are void.
Returning to the subject of IR35, there was an interesting recent interview with John Whiting, one of the men tasked with reviewing the legislation at the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS). Whiting talked about how people shouldn’t expect results too soon and warned that simplifying the legislation could make things worse for the contracting community.
Whiting said: “As far as I am concerned, IR35 is not very effective and we need to look at what gives rise to that. For all the hot air it generated, there were real abuses that IR35 was meant to tackle. If it were abolished, they could come out again. Maybe people have to accept that if we simplify to make things easier, it may make some of the edges rougher.”
The Cabinet Office last week announced a 52 per cent reduction in marketing and advertising spend, and 287 redundancies.
This week, a Cabinet Office spokesman would not reveal how many campaigns had failed the internal assessment by its efficiency and reform group.
Among the few government PR campaigns to be exempted from the Cabinet Office cull are the Department for Transport’s THINK road safety campaign, HM Revenue & Customs information on paying business taxes and the National Savings and Investments programme.
But many more campaigns are likely to be stopped in their tracks. One former Government comms director said: ‘Departments will need to convince ministers that any PR or advertising they do will be a “spend to save”. So, for example, THINK will save lives and save NHS care for road injuries, and inland revenue will raise tax and save admin time.’
The key battles are expected to be fought over potentially life-saving Department of Health campaigns. One former comms chief said: ‘I think the bottom line is quite easy to read – if it is about safety or ensuring revenue for the Government, it’s fine. Anything else is in trouble. Health is the more interesting area to debate where the line should be drawn.’
Image by Peter Reed ~ cc
