Increases to National Insurance Contributions (NIC) may not have been as severe as those proposed by Labour before the election, but employers with a high-paid workforce can still expect significantly increased NIC bills when the changes come into effect next April.

The increases will be partly off-set for employers by increases to the thresholds for employer NICs and for employees by increases to the income tax personal allowance, which will be increased to £10,000. Some employers will also benefit from reduced corporation tax rates, but overall, for businesses facing a bigger NIC burden, these changes won't help firms whose profits are already depressed – or worse, are making losses – due to current economic conditions.

The government also released some details of its proposed NIC tax break for new businesses set up outside of London/the South-East/East of England. The plan is a three year scheme to exempt such employers from the first £5,000 of Class 1 NICs for each of their first ten employees hired in the first year of their business. Further details will be provided ahead of the scheme's introduction, currently set for September 2010.

Elsewhere, the changes to Capital Gains Tax, which has already come into force, will probably hit employee share schemes. However, the biggest impact will be on higher earners that benefit more from such schemes.

Increasing VAT from 17.5% to 20% was probably the biggest headline grabber in Osborne’s Emergency Budget, particularly given that both the coalition parties had indicated during the election campaign that they had ‘no plans’ to raise the tax level.

In terms of business, the increase will be a blow for retailers who will either have to increase their prices and pass them on to consumers to cover the higher VAT level or accept a reduction in profit margins if they absorb the increase.

Elsewhere, exempt and partially exempt businesses, such as financial services companies, universities and residential landlords that cannot recover any of the VAT they incur will also suffer with the increased rate. For these businesses there will either be a 2.5% increase in their cost base or they will put pressure on suppliers to hold down prices.

But perhaps the biggest worry is just how the VAT hike will hit the pockets of consumers and the subsequent pressure staff will put on their employers with higher wage demands to offset the additional costs they will be facing when the increase comes into play next January.

Although not mentioned in the Emergency Budget, the subsequent announcement that the government is to speed up plans to raise the state pension age for men to 66, probably by 2016, forms part of a major overhaul of pensions and retirement. Key among these from an employer’s point of view is the likelihood that the default retirement age of 65, at which point workers can be forced to retire, will also be scrapped.

With the government also investigating the option of increasing the state pension age even further over the next few decades, perhaps as high as 70, employers will have to review their employment and retirement practices and work out how to get the best out of an older workforce.

On the matter of pensions, the Chancellor announced that proposed measures to tackle arrangements seeking to avoid, defer or reduce income tax and National Insurance Contributions will extend to unregistered pension schemes – known as Employer Financed Retirement Benefit Schemes – with legislation being introduced to take effect from April 2011.

As widely expected, the state pensions link to average earnings will be reinstated from April 2011, while the higher rate of pension tax relief for higher earners is to be reviewed because the previously proposed system is so complex, and potentially unworkable, that the Chancellor needs look at other methods of revenue raising.

And, with the Chancellor’s new Financial Activities Tax also impacting on remuneration, the question is will this impact on the sizeable early retirement pensions packages that senior bank executives enjoy?