Tax cuts to boost economy are ‘priority’ to generate wealth and fund NHS, says Chancellor
JEREMY Hunt is eyeing up “priority” tax cuts for business to help put rocket boosters under the economy.
The Chancellor told The Sun ahead of the Autumn Statement he will help firms if he has room for manoeuvre.
He will pore over the final forecast from the financial watchdog today amid hopes there could be as much as £20 billion wriggle room for help.
He said: “I think the priority should always be business tax cuts if you have headroom for cuts.
“Because in the end what we need to do is to improve the long term capacity of the British economy to generate the wealth we need to pay for the NHS. So that will always be the priority.”
The event next Wednesday will be an attempt by the government to get on the front foot following the Supreme Court hammer blow to the Rwanda deportation plan.
Downing Street have been buoyed by the good news on inflation which was recorded at 4.6 per cent hitting the PM’s target to halve the rate by the end of this year.
But the Chancellor vowed not to be irresponsible and risking inflation getting out of control.
He said: “We do want to bring taxes down. There are no shortcuts to doing that. The one thing we won’t do is to bring taxes down in a way the fuels inflation.
“Because having just halved inflation, we don’t want to do anything irresponsible that will take us in the other direction.”
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The Chancellor could use next Wednesday’s mini-Budget to to extend “full expensing” which allows firms to write-off investments such as IT equipment against tax.
He has come under pressure from both Tory MPs and Labour MPs to make the move permanent after announcing only a three-year plan in the March Budget.
There has also been speculation that inheritance tax will be cut although final decisions will be decided over the weekend.
The hospitality industry could also be in line for an extension to business rates to protect the future of the hospitality industry and the High Street.
When asked about cutting taxes, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said today: “Well the most important thing economically that’s happened this week is that we met the pledge that I made to halve inflation.
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“Now of course I know people are still suffering, they have been, so there’s work to do but that’s an important milestone because inflation is like a tax: it makes everyone feel poorer.
“It puts the prices of things up, eats into your savings, your pension, and that’s why it was so important to halve inflation.”