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27 Mar 2006
The channel has been left reeling over the government’s decision to abolish the Home Computing Initiative (HCI) next month.
The shock announcement appeared in the small print of chancellor Gordon Brown’s Budget last week.
A Treasury statement said: “Many employees have benefited from the tax exemption to get a computer in their homes. But the government now wishes to focus support on groups with the worst access to technology. As a result, it has decided to remove the current tax exemptions for employer-provided computer equipment from 6 April 2006.”
Although the tax break for loaned computers has been available since 1999, it is only in the past two years that the HCI has really taken off. Intel, Microsoft and BT formed the HCI Alliance at the start of 2004, and many specialist companies were set up.
Martin Prescott, managing director of HCI reseller RedPC, said: “Although we have other strings to our bow, HCI is our main business. We are lobbying hard to get the chancellor to rethink his decision.”
Mark Perring, managing director of VAR Valusys, said: “We’re fortunate that we have other skills we can offer, but there are a lot of resellers that have concentrated only on HCI.”
PC Builder Evesham Technology has provided more than 300 organisations with an HCI scheme. Carolyn Worth, external relations manager at Evesham, said: “We have invested a lot in HCI. We’ve already written to our local MP. We will be lobbying the chancellor to reverse his decision.”
Philip White, sales director at financing specialist Syscap, said: “There’s been no warning, and with any change such as this, you expect a decent timeframe to implement it. We’ve invested in HCI over the past three to four years, but we haven’t had a return on investment yet.”
Matt Lambert, director of government affairs at Microsoft EMEA, said: “HCI was an efficient tool in helping to reach people who may not otherwise have had access to technology at home. We hope the government will reconsider its decision to remove a benefit that has helped hundreds of thousands of people over the past two years.”
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