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Treasury Refuses To Quash Reports Of Massive Autumn Tax Hike To Deal With Coronavirus Crisis
A senior Treasury official has refused to quash reports the government is planning a £20 billion tax hike in the autumn to deal with the cost of the coronavirus crisis.
Speaking to Times Radio, Stephen Barclay insisted any such move was for chancellor Rishi Sunak to announce in the November Budget.
He said: “Treasury ministers don’t get into what a Budget will or will not do and particularly on tax measures ahead of that, that’s for the chancellor, the Budget.
“There is always four moving parts to this. The key objective within the Treasury is to get growth.
“There is then a balance between the other three moving parts of debt, of spending, spending feeding into that, and tax.
“And what’s your trade-off then between your spending measures and your tax measures. The real objective is to reduce the economic scarring from Covid.”
According to a report in The Sunday Times, the Treasury is looking at raising corporation tax and capital gains tax, and cutting pension tax relief, among a raft of other revenue-raising measures.
The money could be clawed back from pensions, businesses, the wealthy and foreign aid and chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering hiking corporation tax from 19% to 24% in order to boost revenue by £12 billion next year, the report indicated.
Capital gains tax might also be paid at the same rate as income tax, under the ideas reportedly being looked at.
Pension tax relief could be “slashed” under measures being considered by the Treasury to help pay for the Covid-19 crisis, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
The newspaper also said that raising fuel and other duties was being looked at.
A revamp of the inheritance tax system and the introduction of an online sales tax were also reportedly being considered, PA Media reports.
The international development budget could also be caught up in Treasury reappraisals due to the cost of the pandemic, it was claimed.
The aid budget has already been cut by £2.9 billion from £15.8 billion this year, due...
