Labour blasts Tories over corporation tax cuts 'worth £110bn' amid austerity
2 min read
Big business is on course for a £110bn tax cut under the Conservatives while communities have struggled to cope with austerity, Labour has claimed.
New analysis by the party shows corporation tax cuts from 28% to 24% - brought in over five years from 2010 - ushered in huge losses for the exchequer.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said the Tories - aided by the Liberal Democrats - had overseen “a bonanza for big business and a catastrophe for our communities”.
But the Government and the Lib Dems insisted lowering corporation tax during the Coalition government had boosted business in the wake of the economic crash.
Labour said the cuts, alongside a reduction in the small profits rate to 20%, cost the equivalent of £12bn in tax receipts between 2010 and 2015.
Further cuts since then have boosted the sum to £47bn, with the figure expected to hit £110bn by 2022, the party said.
Mr McDonnell fumed: “The Tories, aided and abetted for years by the Liberal Democrats, have handed out billions of pounds in tax giveaways, while slashing funding for our vital public services.
“They have left our schools so starved of cash teachers are begging parents for money, taken police off the streets, and left our NHS and social care in crisis.”
He added: “The latest announcement for health falls short of what is needed and the Chancellor says there is no money for anything else, because he has handed it out in corporate tax giveaways.”
But a Treasury spokesperson told HuffPostUK reducing the burden on business “helps them to thrive; allowing them to reinvest in our economy, lower their prices, hire more staff, and increase wages”.
A Lib Dem spokesperson told the site corporation tax was slashed to “boost investment and revive our moribund economy” - but said the Coalition legacy was being “destroyed” by the Tories.
According to independent economic thinktank the IFS: "Onshore corporate tax receipts as a share of national income are set to be at the same level in 2021–22 as they were in 2010–11.
"This is not evidence that cuts to corporation tax rates have not reduced revenues."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
