Feb 27, 2024
Hunt considers National Insurance cuts at Budget
At last year's Autumn Statement, Mr Hunt announced a bigger-than-expected cut in National Insurance, taking the main rate down from 12% to 10% from the start of this year. "We don't think we should be implementing certain tax cuts now, essentially that are paid for by uncertain spending cuts that might never be delivered," IFS deputy director Carl Emmerson said. The IFS said if Mr Hunt did want to go ahead with tax cuts, he should look at reforming stamp duty on purchasing properties or shares, rather than reducing income tax or a further cut to National Insurance rates, which were reduced in January. Mr Emmerson conceded that tax cuts can help to boost growth in the economy, but said: "That doesn't mean the tax cuts will pay for themselves."There's lots of problems in our tax system - we need genuine tax reform - and if we want growth-friendly tax cuts we should be looking at stamp duty on purchases of properties and stamp duty on purchases of shares," he told the BBC's Today programme. "They're very damaging taxes and cutting them would be better for growth than, for example, cutting the main rate of national insurance.
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