Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:48 pm on 11 March 2020.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 2:48, 11 March 2020

Well, you'll certainly see, very shortly, published, the document that we commissioned, which does look at the implications of land value tax and what that would mean for Wales. This is part of a suite of research that we've commissioned that looks at various aspects of local taxation, both for non-domestic rates and for council tax. We've also had a piece of work that looks at what the implications would be of re-evaluation, for example, and who the winners and losers would be there; what would be the distributional impact in terms of geography across Wales? Over the course, now, of this spring, there will be several pieces of research published, which, together, will provide all of us with a suite of really insightful evidence in order to consider the way forward.

But, of course, business rates—it's not something that you should reform just for the sake of it. We need to be sure that any reforms are made in a way that meets our Welsh Government priorities more widely. And I have to say that I was really pleased by the announcement today that the UK Government has finally caught up now, and that half of businesses in England will no longer be paying business rates. But, of course, we've had that situation in Wales for a very long time.