What new taxes will be introduced in Wales?
On 1 April 2018, stamp duty land tax (SDLT) and landfill tax (LT) will be devolved to Wales. These taxes will be replaced by Welsh taxes known as land transaction tax (LTT) and landfill disposals tax (LDT) respectively.
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mark Drakeford, confirmed his intention to announce the first tax rates and bands for these new Welsh taxes alongside the publication of the draft budget on 3 October 2017.
In preparation for these taxes, the Welsh Government published a tax policy framework setting out its priorities for taxes in Wales.
Will the introduction of Welsh taxes affect how the budget is scrutinised?
Given the 2018-19 budget will be the first to incorporate Welsh Government’s new tax-raising and borrowing powers, a new budget process will be implemented to ensure the Assembly can effectively scrutinise the devolved powers.
- 3 October - the Welsh Government will announce an outline budget, showing allocations at a departmental level, along with tax raising and borrowing plans. This will include an independent review of their tax forecasting methodology. The Finance Committee will scrutinise this budget.
- 24 October - the Welsh Government will publish a more detailed budget, which will be scrutinised by policy committees.
- 22 November - the UK Government will announce their UK Budget which could impact on funding available to the Welsh Government and also Welsh tax rates if changes are made to corresponding UK taxes (SDLT or LT).
- 5 December - the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget will be debated in plenary.
- 19 December - the Welsh Government will publish a Final Budget.
Funding available in 2018-19 is likely to be tight and the Welsh Government will face difficult decisions (906KB) on where to invest funding and make cuts.
More details on the budget and budget process can be found on the Research Service budget pages.
Article by Christian Tipples, National Assembly for Wales Research Service
