3. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance: Tax Policy Work Plan 2018, including New Taxes

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:48 pm on 13 February 2018.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 3:48, 13 February 2018

Dirprwy Lywydd, I thank Vikki Howells for that question. I'm looking forward very much to working with her if we get the power to introduce a vacant land tax, because of the long-standing interest that she's had in this matter.

I'm glad we're ending this discussion by going back to the usefulness of a vacant land tax in the area of urban dereliction and abandoned sites. We can all of us imagine what it must be like to be left living somewhere where, all around you, buildings are not occupied, where fly-tipping is taking place, and where there is no sense at all that the place that you live in is loved or has a positive future. And so, if we're able to use a vacant land tax to bear down on not people who have acquired land because they've got a plan for it and they're mobilising the necessary energy and effort to make that plan happen, but people who speculatively buy up places and rely on the market without any effort from themselves to see the prices rise, cash in, and leave behind them blighted lives for those who have borne the price for their actions, and if we can use a vacant land tax as part of the policy armoury we have to prevent that happening in parts of Wales, then this whole effort will have been well worth while.