Despite, or, some might argue, because of, 22 years of so-called and self-described progressive Labour Welsh Government policies, Wales has retained the highest poverty and lowest pay rates of all the UK nations, and, even before coronavirus, almost a quarter of people in Wales were in poverty, living, quote, 'precarious and insecure lives'. These findings are all taken from independent reports. Does the Minister recognise that Wales needs to attract both inward and internal investment and high-skill, high-added-value jobs in small, medium and large enterprises? If so, does she recognise that there can be an inverse relationship between tax rates and tax revenues, and that using the system to incentivise economic activity can ultimately generate more revenue for public services? How does she respond to the findings of Cardiff University academics during the first year of this Senedd term that cutting the top rate of income tax will ultimately raise tax revenues by encouraging wealth creators to help grow the Welsh economy? 

The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 added discretionary powers for local authorities to apply council tax premiums of up to 100 per cent to second homes. As I warned at the time, this would not generate additional supply for people who need affordable homes in their communities, and enabling local authorities to charge second home owners additional council tax would risk unintended consequences. What evidence does she therefore have to support the Welsh Government's claim that enabling local authorities in Wales to levy council tax premiums on second homes is using taxation to ensure a fair contribution, when the sector has instead made it clear that this simply prompted many who had not known they were already eligible for small business rate relief to switch from council tax to this, and others to start letting out their homes and register for small business rate relief to help with costs, in accordance with Welsh Government criteria last revised and strengthened in 2016, and policed by the independent Valuation Office Agency? 

What evidenced analysis does she have to challenge the evidence showing that the vast majority of properties purchased as second homes in holiday home hotspots were already second homes, and had always been so, built as second homes over more than a century ago, and remaining so ever since? Why does the Minister state that Wales also has the highest threshold on which businesses need to pay tax on residential property transactions in the UK, when the Welsh Government's increased land transaction tax higher rates, which hit large numbers of legitimate small and medium-sized businesses, many of them with properties near the internal UK border with England, are higher than equivalent stamp duty land tax higher rates in England for purchase prices up to just £125,000, and higher for all purchase prices in England above just £180,000, or should I say higher than all purchase prices in England just above £180,000, even after the higher rates holiday introduced by the UK Government in response to the COVID pandemic comes to an end?

And finally, the Minister refers to the potential for a tourism tax. How will she ensure that objective consideration is given to the overwhelming evidence from the sector that this would be damaging to tourism in Wales, this would be damaging to investment, damaging to jobs, and would ultimately reduce the tax take received by the Welsh Government?