SAM ROWLANDS, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, fears a review of current income tax powers could lead to people in Wales being hit with increases.
Mr Rowlands, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance has expressed concerns after hearing that the Welsh Government plan to commission an external review of current income tax powers.
He asked Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Financer for more detail and a timeline for the review.
Mr Drakeford said that work has already begun as he had met the Scottish Finance Minister to get a sense from her the way in which Scotland has used the wider set of income tax variation powers.
Mr Rowlands said: “You’ll know, of course, that, under the SNP in Scotland, people in Scotland are paying some of the heaviest taxes. Anybody earning over £30,000 a year in Scotland pays the most taxes anywhere in the United Kingdom.
“You are absolutely right that Governments should also be looking to see where taxes can be reduced and not always increased. People up and down Wales, though, would be worried that the Labour Party would be seeking to hike up taxes, as they have done with the national insurance increases in Westminster and as they are doing with the inheritance tax for family farms as well.
“The record from Labour Governments for far too long is to increase taxes on people; particularly right now when people are in desperate need to have more cash in their pockets, it’s a real worry for them when a Labour Government here in Cardiff is seeking to expand its powers on taxation.”
He added: “Further Labour tax rises on hardworking Welsh people would be a disaster for Wales.
“Mark Drakeford’s response will not ease worries that he intends to replicate for Wales, the economically harmful, high-tax policies of the SNP in Scotland.
“Unlike Labour, Welsh Conservatives believe that Welsh people should be able to keep more of their own money in their own pockets. Taxes should be coming down, not going up.”
