Spelthorne Borough Council’s controversial commercial investment strategy has allowed it to propose council tax freezes next year despite Covid-19 disruption, according to its finance chief.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering reversing historic corporation tax cuts in the March Budget and longer-term reforms to stamp duty and council tax, according to reports.
Councillors at Lincolnshire County Council have rejected the option of using the 3% increase to the adult social care precept next year which was announced during the local government settlement.
The Welsh Government has proposed a one percentage point increase in its residential land transaction tax, the successor to stamp duty land tax, to help “support housing priorities”.
Core funding for councils in England is set to be 3% lower in real terms per head next year than in 2015-2016, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The government is to reduce the New Homes Bonus to free up funding for local authority grants, it announced as part of the provisional local government finance settlement.
The government has launched a bidding process to create at least seven ‘freeports’ in England – promising host councils the ability to retain business rates growth for 25 years.
The UK government has been urged to consider moving capital gains tax rates in line with income tax levels, which could raise an additional £14bn annually, according to the Office of Tax...
Council tax support is expected to cost councils an additional £586m this year, 7% more than the £500m allocated through a dedicated fund announced in March, according to the LGA.
Mid Ulster District Council has won a VAT case which could see councils in Northern Ireland receive up to £50m in rebates on admission charges to their leisure facilities.
HMRC needs to make fundamental changes to how it collects tax, as compliance is expected to drop as a result of Covid-19, according to the Public Accounts Committee.
HMRC recovered £7.9bn less from fraud and error in the first three months of this financial year than it did in the same period in 2019 – a drop of more than half.
Imposing tax increases too early could “stifle” the UK’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, a report from the Treasury Select Committee has warned.
As director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson has overseen a period of ‘extraordinary’ lockdown output from his organisation, charting Covid-19’s economic impact.
Tax reforms should be implemented alongside the raising of tax rates to make eventual rises “less painful”, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has suggested.