Osborne must end the 'flat tax' of high court fees on SMEs
President of the Law Society, Andrew Caplen, warns that court fee increases is inhibiting the UK's economy by stifling small and medium businesses.
Court fee increases introduced by your justice ministry this month are in effect a 'flat tax' and will stifle small and medium-sized businesses at a time when we rely on them for our economy recovery.
The UK rightly prides itself on its small businesses, which in 2013 employed more than 14 million people and, according to the European Commission, contributed €473 billion to the UK economy.
Increases in court fees of more than 600 per cent in some cases will deny small businesses the vital remedy of the civil courts system for recovering monies lawfully due to them. A small business needing to recover £100,000 will simply not have the funds to pay £5,000 to issue court proceedings, as their cash flow will already be struggling to cope with the missing £100,000.
It is a false economy to impose court fees that go beyond cost recovery. The civil courts are an essential backbone for a growing and prosperous economy. To deliver the government's long-term economic plan to build a better and more financially secure future for Britain, I urge you to look at the wider impact that the justice ministry's increased fees are having on the wider economy.
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