Power to set tax rates and bands could help Wales tackle cost of living crisis says Plaid
Wales should be able to set its own tax rates and bands to help tackle the cost-of-living-crisis, Plaid Cymru has said.
In a debate in the Senedd today (Wednesday 8 February) Plaid Cymru will call on the Labour Government to support devolution of setting all rates and bands for Welsh Income Tax to the Senedd.
Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price argued that the recent limitations of the Welsh Government’s tax-varying powers were an impediment to effective policy-making in Wales, particularly the ability to respond to the current cost-of-living crisis, and the crises facing our public services.
He said that the Senedd should possess the devolved competence to set its own income tax bands, in line with the powers already devolved to the Scottish Parliament under the Scotland Act 2012.
Plaid Cymru Leader, Adam Price, urged the Labour government to back the party’s calls to create a “fairer taxation system”.
Plaid Cymru called on the Labour Government earlier this week to back its plans to raise £317m give both health and care workers a fairer pay offer as part of a longer-term investment in the NHS.
Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said,
“Workers are overworked and underpaid. Public services have been cut to the bone. People are struggling to make ends meet. Westminster’s cost-of-living crisis has hit Wales - hard.
“This week, Plaid Cymru called on the Labour Government to use its tax-varying powers to generate an extra £317 million to offer NHS workers an 8% pay rise - the first real terms pay increase in over a decade – to help tackle staffing shortages and provide care workers with £12 an hour as a minimum.
“But we recognise that even the tax-varying powers we have now can only take us so far.
“If Wales had the ability to set its own tax bands and rates, we could better tackle the crisis in pay and morale in our public services and tailor solutions to the challenges currently facing our communities.
“If Labour are truly the party of the workers, as they claim to be, they’ll back our calls for a fairer Welsh taxation system and demand the powers to set our own tax bands and rates – just like Scotland, rather than allow us to be dictated by Westminster, again.”