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Corporation tax will rise in the UK to levels not seen since 2011, British finance minister Rishi Sunak has announced.
He said the tax rate on profits made by businesses will increase from 19 per cent to 25 per cent, but will not be implemented until 2023.
According to the Budget Red Book, it will see an extra £11.9 billion (€13.75) raised in 2023/24, £16.25 billion in 2024/25 and £17.2 billion in 2025/26.
Mr Sunak said: “The government is providing businesses with over £100 billion of support to get through this pandemic, so it is fair and necessary to ask them to contribute to our recovery.
“Even after this change the UK will still have the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7 — lower than the United States, Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany and France. ”
However, to offset the rises and encourage spending, a super deduction was introduced where companies will be able to reduce tax bills by 130 per cent of business investment in machinery and equipment.
James Smith, an economist at ING Economics, said: “This is undoubtedly a big move, designed to mobilise some of the cash reserves that lots of (less affected) firms have accrued in the pandemic.
“Investment is also expected to remain lower as firms grapple with new Brexit-related costs, so this move should help partially cushion the blow to the economy.”
The “super deduction” will cost the treasury £29.8 billion over the course of the next five years. The amount collected in corporation tax during the same period is expected to be £47.8 billion.
The rise puts the UK above the EU average of 21.7 per cent but remains below the US corporation tax level of 27 per cent, which US president Joe Biden has said he is looking to increase.The Republic of Ireland’s tax rate is 12.5 per cent. France’s rate is 26.5 per cent, Germany has a rate at 30 per cent, Canada at 26.5 per cent, Japan at 30.62 per cent and Italy at 24 per cent, according to data from KPMG.
Mr Sunak reverses a decade of cuts to the tax, leading to the current level of 19 per cent since 2017. Former chancellor George Osborne had previously said he wanted the tax to go as low as 15 per cent.
Covid supports
In his speech, Mr Sunak said the UK economy will regain its pre-pandemic size in mid-2022, six months earlier than previously forecast, helped by Europe’s fastest vaccination programme. But it will remain 3 per cent smaller in five years’ time than it would have been without the health shock and extra support is needed now as the country remains under coronavirus restrictions, he said. “First, we will continue doing whatever it takes to support the British people and businesses through this moment of crisis,” Mr Sunak told parliament.
“Second, once we are on the way to recovery, we will need to begin fixing the public finances – and I want to be honest today about our plans to do that.
And, third, in today’s Budget we begin the work of building our future economy.”
Among new support measures were a five-month extension of Britain’s huge jobs rescue plan and more help for the self-employed, the continuation of an emergency increase in welfare payments, and an extended Vat cut for the hospitality sector. A business rates exemption for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses was extended until the end of June, by when British prime minister Boris Johnson hopes he will have lifted most Covid-19 restrictions. An existing tax break for home-buyers will also now run until June 30th and will then apply for cheaper homes until the end of September. Mr Sunak will borrow significantly more in the coming financial year than thought just a few months ago – £234 billion, or 10.3 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with a previous estimate of 164.2 billion pounds, or 7.4 per cent of GDP. – PA and Reuters