Take on the accountants, Grove tells government
David Grove, one of the Midlands’ best-known industrialists, has urged the government not to be afraid of the big accountancy firms.
In a pull-no-punches interview to be published in the June issue of Midlands Business Insider, the Grove Industries boss suggests there is a fundamental problem with the tax system.
As he sees it, the problem is that on the one hand big business looks to a plethora of offshore companies and tax avoidance techniques to try and reduce its tax burden while at the tradesman level the black economy is rife.
He is urging the Treasury to take on the big accountancy firms who, he alleges, have an interest in maintaining the complexity of the system because it is through advising companies on tax avoidance measures that they make much of their money.
“The turkeys are never going to vote for Christmas,” he says.
Grove wants to see the abolition of allowances and assorted incentives in return for a reduction of corporation tax to 15 per cent.
He has also expressed doubts about the chances of local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) succeeding.
He suggests the bodies set up by the government to replace regional development agencies face an uphill struggle.
“If they don’t have any money what are they going to achieve?” he asked.
And he questions whether such bodies are necessary anyway.
“What we need are doers - people who develop businesses and launch new products - not talking shops. What do quangos and committees achieve at the end of the day? These things are full of middle managers. I don’t have a lot of time for them,” he said.
Stratford-based Grove Industries is 97 per cent owned by Grove, who has built a portfolio of companies with total sales in excess of £300m and around 1,750 employees.
His track record includes building up Solihull-based Hill & Smith, now one of the UK’s largest suppliers of galvanized steel.
A former president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Grove was awarded an OBE in 2009 for services to business.
