Commenting on the announcement of the Scottish Government's Draft Budget for 2013-14, Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:
'Scottish businesses welcome John Swinney's stated objective of prioritising economic growth in proposing the Scottish Government's Draft Budget. In doing so, we particularly welcome the continued focus that the Government places on the maximisation of capital spending and infrastructure investment. We believe that this will achieve both short term advantage in terms of delivering a boost to the construction sector and also benefit the Scottish economy in the longer term, particularly where this spending is directed towards infrastructure that supports business growth, such as transport projects.
'However at a time when the overall Scottish Government budget is falling in cash terms, it is important to note that the contribution being made to public spending by Scottish businesses through business rates is increasing, from £2.272 billion this year, to £2.435 billion in 2013-14 and further up to £2.664 billion by 2014-15. The Scottish Government does need to recognise that its non-domestic rates take is accelerating. It is time to put the brakes on this and allow businesses to retain more of the resources they are earning so they can reinvest this back into growth and jobs.
'Nevertheless we welcome the overall intention of this budget to deliver growth and we will continue to analyse the detailed proposals contained within it.'
