Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Valerie Vaz

Tuesday 19th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her question. She will know that 70% of trading businesses only pay the lower corporation tax rate of 19%. That covers the vast majority of small businesses. I used to run my own business; I ran it for 14 years before I came into Parliament. I could not agree with her more: small businesses are the backbone of the British economy, which is why we are tackling the scourge of low payments and we rolled over the 75% discount on retail, hospitality and leisure business rates in the autumn statement.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Will the Chancellor confirm how much higher the tax burden is forecast to be at the end, compared with at the start, of this Parliament?

[Jeremy Hunt]

What I can confirm is that, as a result of the measures I took in the autumn statement, it will be lower at the end of the scorecard period than it would otherwise have been, and a lot lower than it would be under any Labour Government.