Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:49 pm on 23 January 2019.
If I can refer to the issue of raising taxes, which you mentioned. Raising taxes means to bring in taxes, of course, but all too often it's thought of as 'raising'—putting them up. Now, there are arguments for putting taxes up, and there are arguments, as we've heard from Nick Ramsay, on putting taxes down. What I want people to see in Wales in future, as we develop a tax system, is that people see that we are developing something that is fair. Now, we have limited tax powers currently. Over time, I hope and I’m confident that that will change. In a position where you have a whole host of tax and fiscal levers at your disposal, you can put some up and some down. It’s about finding a balance and making sure that people can see that the effort being made here is to have a system that is fair in terms of what is brought in, that the weight of responsibility on who pays most is fair, and that we are able to make a fair contribution, because of that tax system, into how we spend money on the public services. This is the start of a journey, and I don’t want to shackle this Government or any as we try to form that Welsh taxation system for the future.