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Tax cut on hold.

Tax
Chan­cel­lor Jeremy Hunt has vowed to use Wed­nes­day’s Budget to set Bri­tain on the «hard road» to becom­ing one of Europe’s wealthiest coun­tries but warned that significant tax cuts would have to wait.

Hunt is expec­ted to use his lim­ited room for fiscal man­oeuvre to offer tax breaks to encour­age com­pan­ies to invest while also fund­ing meas­ures to get people back to work and to ease the cost of liv­ing crisis.

The chan­cel­lor said yes­ter­day there were «no easy fixes» to boost weak eco­nomic growth as he paved the way for a Budget that will eschew big giveaways in favour of fiscal dis­cip­line and an effort to bear down on high infla­tion.

«I think we have fant­astic oppor­tun­it­ies in this coun­try,» Hunt told the BBC. Hunt said busi­ness wanted sta­bil­ity and he is seek­ing to repair the dam­age caused by Liz Truss’s chaotic premi­er­ship last year. Tax cuts were desir­able, but respons­ible man­age­ment of the pub­lic fin­ances came first. «Within the bounds of what is respons­ible, we will always look to reduce the tax bur­den,» he added.

Hunt has told Con­ser­vat­ive MPs that tax cuts will be pos­sible in the autumn and ahead of an elec­tion next year once infla­tion has been tamed.

With the cor­por­a­tion tax rate rising from 19 per cent to 25 per cent in April, Hunt is under pres­sure to show he has a growth plan. In the short term, he will spend money on Tory polit­ical pri­or­it­ies, includ­ing an extra £5bn over two years for defence and £3bn more to hold down energy bills this spring.

Hunt will also try to tackle the NHS staff­ing crisis by chan­ging pen­sion rules blamed for dis­suad­ing senior doc­tors from work­ing into their fifties.

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Comments

  1. Gabriel13 March 2023 at 10:15

    It wasn't just Liz Truss's chaotic premiership that brought us to where we are now. Let's not forget Boris Johnson. He also did a lot of "good" while he was around.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Samuel D.13 March 2023 at 11:21

    Jeremy Hunt might want to do a lot but the question is how much can he actually do? I don't think he will be able to do much even though he may want to. Less promises and more action, Mr. Hunt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ryan13 March 2023 at 13:04

      What Hunt wants to do will take 15 years if not more. Becoming one of the top wealthiest countries in Europe is not an easy task with all that's going on in the world. Opportunities abound but we as a country need to know how to take advantage of them.

      Delete

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