There's more to the minimum wage than 1998
One of the difficulties in economics is isolating the effects of particular actions in a very complex world. If we cut income tax this year and next year tax revenues are a little higher, it’s tempting to attribute that to the tax cut.
Business rates are a tax on landlords, not on businesses
There is such a thing as a bad tax cut, and business rates relief for small businesses is one of them. Despite what the Chancellor claimed in his budget yesterday, reducing rates will likely be a tax cut for landlords, not businesses. Business rates are a tax on non-domestic property, paid by the occupier rather than the owner and based on the property's rentable value. Since they are paid by the renting business, most people assume it is businesses who lose out because of them.