CUTTING the cost of tax and compliance for small businesses is not inconsistent with promoting real job creation, according to the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association.

ISME yesterday told the Minister for Finance that "contrary to the claims of his Democratic Left cabinet colleagues," such measures were necessary to create new jobs.

Discussing its pre-budget submission with Mr Quinn, ISME chairman, Mr Eoghan Hynes, stressed the Government must get Exchequer expenditure under control. "It is a necessary part of the fiscal survival strategy the Government must follow if it is to avoid soaring taxation in a time of recession and to facilitate meaningful tax reductions during periods of growth."