A Quarter Of Ireland’s SMEs Want To See Cut In Tax

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

01 December 2004

A survey conducted by communications firm O2 has found that a quarter of Ireland's small and medium-sized businesses would like the government to cut taxes.

As Finance Minister Brian Cowen prepared to deliver his budget speech today, 24% of the respondents in the survey considered that tax cuts should be his top priority.

However, despite this discontent over the level of taxation, the poll revealed that a significant proportion of the firms were reasonably optimistic over growth prospects for 2005.

According to the survey, over one third of firms expect to hire more staff next year, while 60% of the respondents were not planning to take on new employees. However, only 2% were anticipating laying off staff.

Meanwhile, over half of the respondents (55%) forecast an increase in their sales next year, whilst 37% expected no change.

The survey, undertaken by O2 last month, solicited the views of 300 owner-managers and directors nationwide.

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