Commenting on the Chancellor’s Budget statement, Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary, said:
“Public sector workers facing a pay squeeze may legitimately wonder why they are contributing to a cut in corporation tax at a time of record profitability for UK businesses.
“The two per cent cut in corporation tax must surely signal a challenge to UK businesses. Despite a decade of stability, a forty-year high in profitability and a range of targeted tax incentives business has failed to invest sufficiently in people, plant and research. The Chancellor has now given business the cut it demanded. If investment fails to improve the Chancellor must look for a new approach to ensure that business meets its obligations.
“But the Chancellor can justifiably take pride in his record of sustained growth and investment in education and health. The STUC welcomes the Budget’s focus on many of the key priorities we had raised in our Budget Submission such as pensions, R&D and the environment.
“Whilst time is required to properly determine the full impact, abolition of the 10p starter rate means that the two per cent cut in income tax is unlikely to benefit the majority of workers.”
ENDS
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