Reduce inflationary pressure on self-employed, IPSE urges
- 18 Jul 2018
With the inflation rate still at 2.4 per cent – above the two per cent target – IPSE has urged the Government not to introduce policies that would increase inflationary pressure and make the target harder to hit.
Above all, it has urged the Government not to extend its changes to IR35 to the private sector because this would hit many self-employed not only with inflationary pressure, but also with unfair taxes.
Tom Purvis, IPSE’s Economic and Political Advisor, commented: “According to our Freelancer Confidence Index, 78 per cent of freelancers believe their costs will increase in the next 12 months. They believe this could be by as much as 11.6 per cent.
“The main source of upward inflationary pressure is the rising cost of transport. This is because the price of oil has increased recently. Add to this the ongoing trade war, and the chance of inflation rising is much higher.
“The rising cost of transport particularly affects freelancers because they travel more than their employee counterparts. This is because they have to travel to clients – and to win work.
“The Government must avoid introducing policies that would increase inflationary pressure – not least extending the changes to IR35 to the private sector. Not only would this increase costs for businesses and put a further squeeze on living standards; it would also leave many self-employed unfairly taxed as employees.”
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