Fiscal and Monetary Policy Persuasive Essay

As an assistant manager for Skanska I have been asked by my manager to explain how fiscal and monetary policy decisions affect the business in which I work. To undertake this task I will provide explanation of the fiscal and monetary policies. I will also explain what interest rate is and what could be possible changes on it. Additionally, I will explain how both policies could make changes in employment level.

Fiscal policy

Economic climate is essential to be controlled within every single county because this helps control important activities within the particular country. All countries where economy is developed created and follow polices which ensure that money spent by government are used in an appropriate way. Those policies are known as fiscal and monetary policies.  Fiscal policy could be defined as a legislation which was introduced by government to control the economy. The fiscal policy control and affects public taxation, public expenditure and borrowing money. Fiscal policy includes direct and indirect taxation, public finances, public sector borrowing, pre-budget report and redistribution of income. The purpose of fiscal policy is to monitor, control and support economy as a whole.

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Taxation

Taxation could be defines as a collection of money by government from their citizens and corporation businesses to found operational expenditure of the country. Changes in taxation would have a large influence on economy because amount of obtained money could be spent for different purposes or needs of the country. Taxation could be divided into two main types which are direct and indirect taxation. Ref. Book: Business level 3, Book Publisher: Edexcel Page: 300 Author John Bevan) Direct Taxation This particular type of taxes is paid by population and businesses on their income and profit. If the amount of income is higher than the higher will be direct tax which will have to be paid. Direct taxes could be collected by government in form of income tax, corporation tax, council tax, working tax, road tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, stamp duty, national insurance (NI).

Income

TaxIncome

Tax rates 2011-12 by tax band and type of income Income tax is a main financial source for government to found activities of the country and public services. This is pay by anyone within the country who has an income. It is protected by legislation that organisations and individuals have to proof how much income was generated for each year. Income tax could be calculated in three ways which is 20, 40 and 50 percent. Additionally, there is a possibility of personal allowance which means that some people income is not taxable as they do not earned enough to pay income tax.

This tax year the basic personal allowance or tax-free amount is ? 7,475. Furthermore, some people may be entitled to a higher Personal Allowance if they have reached the age of 65 or over.  National Insurance Contributions This is another form of tax which is based on income. National Insurance contribution also known as NI is paid by employees and employers to the government. NI is dependable on the amount of money which is earned by each party and whether people are employed or self-employed.

Through National Insurance contributions employees are building up to entitlement for different social benefits if they have to. Additionally, NI building up a form of state pensions when employees would be retired. There is one restriction where people do not have to pay NI and this is when they reach retirement age. Corporation Tax Corporation tax is a form of tax which is based on taxable profits of all businesses. This is why organisations do their best to reduce amount of corporation tax.

The most common way to deduct the amount of corporation tax is to reinvest the profit into the further development of the business.

Indirect Taxation

Indirect taxes are charged by government on producers or suppliers. The main aim of these taxes is to reduce pollution and improve the environment. The examples of indirect taxes are value added tax (VAT), excise duty, air passenger duty, insurance taxes such as car, home or pet insurance, TV licence or driving licence. Value Added Tax (VAT) This type of tax is charged almost on all products or services provided by organisations. For instance businesses pay VAT for all products which are needed to manufacture the products and then VAT is paid by customers if they want to buy manufactured products. VAT could be charged into three different rates which are standard rate 20%, reduced rate 5% and zero rated 0%. Standard rate is most common form of VAT and this is paid on almost all products or services unless they have been specified to reduce or zero rate.

Reduced rate is depend on products it’s self and the circumstances of the sale. The most common example of reduced rate VAT are domestic fuel and power, installation of energy saving materials, sanitary hygiene goods or children’s car seats. Zero rated VAT is similar to the reduced rated VAT as is depend on products it’s self and the circumstances of the sale. The example of this type of VAT could be products or services such as food apart from the meals purchased in restaurants or hot takeaways, books and newspapers, children's clothes and shoes, public transport.

Excise Duty

This is another form of indirect tax which is only paid for certain products on the market. Excise duty tax is added to the goods or services which might be luxuries, danger for environment and harmful for the health of population. The examples of products which include excise duty are tobacco, spirits and beers, oil or gambling. The government has introduced excise duty to increase amount of overall collected taxes but also to decrease the demand for particular products. Air Passenger Duty Air passenger duty is paid by airlines to the government for carriage passengers from UK airports. International booked passengers who are coming into the country are exempted to pay this duty. Since 2009 air passenger duty is paid by the amount of flies whereas use to it was charged by every single passenger. The changes amended in this type of taxation increased prices of airline tickets as organisations are forced to pay more taxes. The main purpose of collection of air passenger duty is to raise extra funds to upport economy but also for environmental reasons.

Public Finances Public finances could be referred as the amount of money which government pays for its expenditures through collection of taxes and borrowing. To support community within the country the government provides valuable activities such as security, education, transport and health support. Running the following activities might cost government millions so this is why appropriate amount of collected taxes is essential.

Government have to balance overheads for different departments in appropriate way and ensure that money spent in certain area would benefit population and generate future return in the economy.

Public Sector

Borrowing Public sector borrowing also known as a Public Sector Cash Requirement could be defined as an amount of money which government has to borrow from Bank of England to operate essential activities provided to the public.

Public sector cash requirement occurs when the country does not collect enough finances to cover overheads of essential activities. If that would happen, then country will start going into the debt what would disadvantage economy and community as less money might be invested in public interest. (Ref. http://www. qfinance. com/dictionary/public-sector-borrowing-requirement) Impact of Fiscal policies on Skanska? Changes made within Fiscal policy would have a large impact on business operations. Skanska could be affected by any decisions made within these policies as any decisions could change the activities and revenues of the business.

For instance, if government cut down the spending costs to build hospitals or motorways then Skanska will lose contracts, which simply means there would not be projects undertaken by my organisation. This situation would be reflected in the release of employees as the organisation might not be able to afford to maintain workforce. Additionally, this would affect the manufacturing organisations as they would not be able to supply Skanska with their products and therefore less money will be generated and flowed into the economy.

How does Fiscal policy affect Skanska? Skanska operates in construction industry so any changes in fiscal policy would affect overall operation of this business. Skanska as a one of leading construction organisations in the United Kingdom would be affected by positive or negative outcome. For instance, if government would change income tax band from taxation element for higher then this would benefit this organisation as there would be a possibility to pay lower amount of taxes by Skanska.

The example could be that if government increase the income tax band of 50% from 150,000 to 200,000 then my chosen organisation would generate higher revenue as even if they would achieve revenue of 180,000 the business will under the 40% of income tax band. The effect of changes in this fiscal policy could create more profit for Skanska so owners, stakeholders and employees might benefit from this fact as higher amount of money obtained by the business could be shared into these parties. Additionally, the result of fewer taxes paid by my organisation would nathnelo investors and owners to reinvest extra income in the business.

Reinvestment of generated profit would be equalised to the expansion of Skanska what might create new jobs for employees due to further investments. Changes in public sector borrowing would also affect Skanska because if government would not collect enough taxes than it automatically decrease amount of possible spending’s into the economy. In the past the government applied Golden Rule of public borrowing which state that it should never be borrowed more than 40% of overall income from economy. Due to recession in United Kingdom the government has to break this rule to reduce possibility of bank collapse.

In 2010 the government decided to introduce Fiscal Responsibility Act which is about limiting the amount of government borrowing. This act is mended to stop the country to follow into the debt. Due to breaking Golden Rule decision my chosen organisation had better opportunities to undertake any projects as more money were flowing into the economy.

Monetary Policy

Monetary policy is interlinked to fiscal policy and it was created by the government to support and control an economy activities.

Monetary policy influence aggregate demand, employment level, money supply, the interest rate that is offered by central bank and the level exchange rate within the country. In the United Kingdom the central bank is the Bank of England which is in charge of interest and exchange rates or money supply. Additionally, the Bank of England is responsible for the amount of money that banks need to keep in the vault which is also known as bank reserves. The purpose of monetary policy is to control and stabilize overall economy within the country. (Ref. http://www. nvestopedia. com/terms/m/monetarypolicy. asp#ixzz1oQuE0cW4) Aggregate Demand Aggregate Demand could be defined as the total demand for provided goods and services produced within the economy over a certain period of time. Aggregate demand is considered as the sum of consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports. Aggregate demand has a large influence on the economy as a whole because its increase or decrease would generate positive or negative outcomes in the economy.

Interest Rate

Interest rate could be defined as the amount of percentage charged by lender usually banks to the borrower. The percentage of interest rate is based on the annual basis also known as Annual Percentage Rate (APR) and this is dependable on the value of borrowed money or assets. The example of borrowed assets could be cash, beneficial goods of consumers and large assets such as vehicles or premises. If the interest rate is low then there is frequent possibility of larger investments as the businesses do not have to pay back much more than it was borrowed from the bank.

Employment Level

Employment level could be defined as the population who is currently working and this is presented in form of percentage. The level of employment is very important factor to be considered by government because through this aspect the taxes are collected which could be reinvested into the economy. Employment level is affected by monetary policy because if inflation level would increase then more likely the wages of employees would be higher.

The overall result from this situation could be that the employer might reduce workforce to cut down cost which possibly would decrease aggregate demand due to less people would have confidence in spending money.

Impact of Monetary policies on Skanska

The changes in monetary policy would have a large influence on my chosen business because changes amended in these policies could have knock-on effect in my organization. For instance, changes of the interest rate for lower could lead to the situation where Skanska might invest in latest machinery as interest rate on this purchase will be lower so the business would save money if the make a purchase in this period. Additionally, low interest rate might create situation where population would be less likely to make a savings due to low interest which they could receive. If population would not be interested in saving then they would prefer to spend the money which they earn so the economy would benefit as the aggregate demand would increase.

How does Monetary policy affect Skanska?

Implementation of monetary policy could affect industry within my chosen business operates. Through increase or decrease of interest rates Skanska would be affected by the changes in demand of provided services by population. For instance, if government would decrease the level of interest rate than this might stimulate higher aggregate demand because people would have more money to spent. If population have a confidence to spend money than my chosen business is more likely to convince potential customers to make the purchase.

Additionally, lower interest rate would attract Skanska for new investments due to low interests which need to be paid back. This is also easier for construction industry to find new invertors all over the world as in this period investors are able to generate large return of invested finances. If government and central bank would decide to raise interest rate than this would disadvantage my chosen organisation as opposite effect which most likely would reduce aggregate demand and inflation. Employment level would be affected by changes in monetary policy which could create different situations within operation of Skanska.

Government do their best to keep inflation at 2% which means that economy would be stable and wages would be increase by similar level. Low raise of inflation would means that employees have a job security due to steady costs of business. For instance, if inflation would drastically rise then wages would increase too so as a result business might not be able to afford workforce due to too high overheads.

How fiscal and monetary policy would help Skanska to achieve its objectives.

Skanska committed their selves to outperform business in the management of the environment, health ; safety and the engagement with the communities they work in as well as the project performance and profitability. The achievement of main aims is depended on the legislations of government. Through changes in fiscal policy my chosen organisation would be able to generate outcome which would benefit the business and the productivity of economy. For instance, if inflation increased due to raise of aggregate demand than increased spending would most probably decrease national debt at least in short term.

Also decrease of income tax would increase the amount of available organisational income which might increase the aggregate demand. Appropriate changes in fiscal policy could create significantly impact the national income and therefore have immediate effect on the economy. Another benefit which Skanska could obtain from changes in fiscal policy is higher profitability and motivation of workforce if taxes on wages would be decreased. Additionally, if higher amount of people and organizations would earn more than automatically the government would collect more taxes such as VAT or income tax.

Growth of economy would also means that government would spend less money for different types of benefits which support unemployment community. On the other hand, Fiscal policy have great influence on businesses operation so government have to ensure that amended changes do not affect the organisations in the way that they would not be able to operate.

For instance if government would increase the income tax as too high level than organisation would not be interested in feather operations as too much amount of taxes which will have to be paid to government would be seen as not reasonable and the organisations might be closed down. This would create negative outcome for economy because if businesses will be closed down then unemployment would increase and more money government will have to spend to support those people and no taxes at all would be collected as organisations would abandon from operations. Additionally, changes in direct taxation or government spending may take considerable time because of both political and moral reasons. For instance, taxing rich people more than the others might be seen as unfair treatment for parties who are charged higher.

Conclusion

Overall, I have described what fiscal and monetary policies are and what is involved in those aspects. Also I have explained how does policies affect my chosen organisations and what out6come could be generated through changes in both policies. The fiscal and monetary policies are closely interlinked to each other. Fiscal and monetary policies are very important to be managed in an appropriate manner by government because wrong changes would not only affect businesses within the country but also the economy as a whole will be affected.

Bibliography

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