Income Tax

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 15 February 2023.

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Photo of Tom Giffard Tom Giffard Conservative 1:32, 15 February 2023

As we heard from Hefin David there, one of the perils of increasing income tax at a time of financial trouble is the fact that it would be something built on the back of working people across Wales. And it's quite apt, I think, on the day that Nicola Sturgeon resigned as leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland, to remember exactly where Plaid Cymru got this idea from, because they devolve a lot of their thinking out to a party from another part of the United Kingdom—the SNP. Because, in Scotland, they're proposing to add 1p onto the higher and top rates of tax, alongside reducing the top rate threshold, from £150,000 to just over £125,000. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that that will spark an exodus of high earners across the border. Scottish business leaders have branded it a disadvantage for Scotland and made clear that it would make competing with the UK for talent much harder. On top of those increases, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has not ruled out a 10 per cent hike in council taxes there. In a survey, half of all Scots wanted the current system of council tax to end. Another survey showed that one in five Scottish households are currently living in serious financial difficulty, equivalent to 1.2 million people; in the UK overall, it's 17 per cent. That's Plaid's vision for Wales, Minister, and it's a vision that's built on the back of taxing working people. Do you agree with me that that's a totally wrong priority, at the wrong time, from a party that is increasingly out of touch with the people of Wales?