The Welsh Government has set out a wish list to Rushi Sunak ahead of his Budget on Wednesday including addressing historic under investment in rail and research and development.
In a letter to Mr Sunak, Finance Minister Rebecca Evans, has also called for:
- Sustaining 海角视频-wide business support.
- Delivering welfare and taxation measures to support the most vulnerable.
- Providing an injection of funding to support the transition to net zero.
- Providing guarantees for Wales specific funding pressures.
Ms Evans sad it is also vital that the Job Retention Scheme and Self Employed Income Support Scheme are retained – and should only be removed in a phased manner once recovery is well under way.
She added: "A delay to repayments should also be introduced for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme with recognition given to the self-employed who are facing deferred bills.
“It is also vital that the £20 per week increase to Universal Credit is maintained and put on a permanent basis, making it available to people in receipt of legacy means-tested benefits. More than 300,000 families in Wales have benefited from an extra £1,000 a year as a result of the uplift and removing this now would have a detrimental and long-lasting effect on thousands of households across Wales.”
The Finance Minister also urged the 海角视频 Government to use the levers at its disposal to deliver taxation measures which support the most vulnerable and poorest groups in our society and called for meaningful engagement on key areas of tax policy.
Ms Evans said: “The Chancellor must not use this Budget to raise taxes, but should continue to take advantage of historically low interest rates to invest in infrastructure and public services. This will provide the additional fiscal push to consolidate recovery.”
Chief Secretary’s announcement last month for the 海角视频 Levelling Up Fund to directly allocate funding in Wales on devolved matters.
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Ms Evans said: “It is unacceptable for the 海角视频 Government to forcibly take decisions on devolved matters without being answerable to the Senedd on behalf of the people of Wales. It also undermines what was set out in the Spending Review – specifically, that money from this fund would be allocated ‘in the usual way’. Far from strengthening the Union this will only serve to increase divisions and inequalities.”
The chancellor is expected announce, while it could be delayed to later in the year, plans to increase the rate of corporation tax by potentially up to 23% over this parliamentary term.
The tax, currently at 19%, is paid on the profits of firms, although he could introduce a slightly lower rate for SMEs compared to larger firms.
Richard Selby director and co-founder of Caldicot-based Pro Steel said this was not the time to put more pressure on businesses.
He said: "Corporation tax will be yet another blow to the sector if that rises as many are predicting. I appreciate tax has to be raised but are we really over the worst of it (Covid-19) to start raising tax on companies who are already struggling and who will rely on any profit to re-invest in the business to protect itself in the longer term?
“Put simply, if we don’t support the wider sector now, many businesses won’t see any profit, meaning they won’t pay any corporation tax. That's on top of the newly-introduced VAT reverse charge, and when we talk about 'building back better' and giving opportunities to SMEs, these changes will not only harm the existing cash flow of construction companies, but prevent investment and scaling up, when as a country, we will depend on our businesses to lead the way to prosperity post pandemic.”