Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy is deeply concerned by a response from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance regarding potential rises in income tax.
Following a question to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language, The Rt Hon Mark Drakeford MS, refused to rule out an income tax rise in 2025-26, saying “devolved taxes will be considered as part of the preparation of the Draft Budget”.
This comes alongside news that the UK Budget, due to be outlined at the end of October, will contain several tax increases with the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Sir Kier Starmer, explaining that his party’s first budget “is going to be painful”.
Commenting on the news Janet said:
“Sadly, I feared that this was going to be the case. Mark Drakeford has already outlined that he thinks that raising the basic 20p rate would bring in significant money.
“Now it seems that the Welsh Government are seriously considering raising the threshold for the basic rate of income tax.
“In my eyes this would be punitive measure that will hit people who are already struggling with council tax and energy bills, especially as we move into the colder months.
“Combine this with the fact the UK Labour Government want to take Winter Fuel Payments away, a tax hike of this proportion would mean misery for people across Wales.
“At a time when we need to be stimulating growth, the very last thing that we need is increased taxation, especially on those who are already seeing a large percentage of their earnings going on taxation, food and energy”.
ENDS