Finance Bill — New Clause 10 — Review Impact of Changes to the Annual Investment Allowance Made in 2011 — 2 Jul 2014 at 15:45

The majority of MPs voted against requiring a report on the impact of reducing the tax incentive for businesses to invest in assets in 2011 (the incentive has since been increased above its original level).

MPs were considering the Finance Bill^[1]. The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was:

• “(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, undertake a review of the impact on business investment of changes to section 51A of the Capital Allowances Act 2001 made by Finance Act 2011.
• (2) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must publish the report of the review and lay the report before the House.”

The report requested relates to the reduction in the annual investment allowance from £100,000 to £25,000 which occurred in 2011. Alongside the reduction there were various technical amendments to the rules on allocating the allowance to specific time periods and between businesses.

The annual investment allowance is the amount spent on investing assets in a year which companies (or self-employed individuals) can deduct from their profits prior to the calculation of corporation tax due on the profits

After the 2011 reduction the allowance was increased to £250,000 in 2013^[3] the Finance Act under consideration at the time of the vote provided for a further increase to £500,000^[4].

During the debate prior to the vote MP Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North, Labour) explained the motivation behind proposing the new clause saying^[5]:

• The new clause asks the Government to undertake a proper review of the impact on business investment of that terrible decision. We need to learn the lessons from that dreadful mistake

==

• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Finance Bill 2013-14 to 2014-15
• [2] Page of amendment papers for consideration of the Finance Bill 2013-14 to 2014-15 on 2 July 2014
• [3] Vote on the third reading of the Finance Bill 2013 - PublicWhip
• [4] Vote on the second reading of the Finance Bill 2014 - PublicWhip
• [5] Catherine McKinnell MP (Newcastle upon Tyne North, Labour), House of Commons, 2 July 2014

Debate in Parliament | Source |