Why are the Welsh Conservatives Still Supporting an Unfair Tax Rises?

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the Conservatives to drop planned tax rises as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. According to the Welsh Lib Dems, the Conservatives have become the party of high tax and are unfairly targeting working people at precisely the moment they are struggling the most.

Liberal Democrats have hit out at the Chancellor after he refused to scrap planned increases to national insurance tax, despite the ongoing cost of living crisis.

People across Wales will now be facing a 1.25 per cent increase in their national insurance contributions. This decision makes Rishi Sunak the only Finance Minister in the G7 to raise taxes this year.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

“It is totally ridiculous that the Conservatives are plowing forward with this tax increase at a time where so many families are struggling just to make ends meet.

“The national insurance tax isn’t just a tax on working families, but also a tax on employment, with small, local Welsh businesses now being clobbered with a tax increase after a horrific few years of trading due to COVID-19.

“Perhaps most pressingly, the elephant in the room was entirely ignored. Despite families up and down Wales struggling to pay their energy bills, there were no significant announcements on helping households with rocketing prices.

“The Chancellor should have introduced a windfall tax on oil and gas giants, who are making record profits. The income from this would have paid for the warm homes discount scheme to be expanded and doubled.

“We have seen the Conservatives break one manifesto promise after the other, on National Insurance, on Income Tax, on pensions. Rishi Sunak has introduced 15 tax rises on families and businesses in the last two years alone and despite his efforts, he cannot hide his party is now the party of high tax.

“Rishi Sunak has wasted more money than any other Chancellor in history. He’s wasted £10 billion on unusable PPE, written off over £4.3 billion in Covid fraud and handed big banks a £4 billion tax cut.

“This tax rise should have been in tracks today, but instead the Conservatives have shown themselves to be the party of high tax and economic mismanagement.”

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