Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politicsGet our free Inside Politics email<\/p>\n
Former home secretary Priti Patel has urged chancellor Jeremy Hunt to use his Budget next month to halt the planned corporation tax rise.<\/p>\n
The senior Conservative has argued that \u201cnow is not the time\u201d for an increase in the tax on big business.<\/p>\n
In plans agreed while she served in Boris Johnson\u2019s cabinet, corporation tax is due to rise from 19 to 25% in April.<\/p>\n
Ms Patel has also called on Mr Hunt to pull out of an international agreement preventing corporation tax from falling below 15%.<\/p>\n
Britain was signed-up to the deal by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, in a move brokered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and heralded by the US.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak, announcing the deal in October 2021 when Ms Patel was home secretary, said it would lead to a \u201cfairer tax system, where large global players pay their fair share wherever they do business\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Ms Patel said: \u201cIt is not too late for the Chancellor to back business and end the current political obsession of regulation, high taxes and interference with business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chancellor must send a positive signal to business in the Budget which supports jobs and economic growth. Now is not the time for an increase in corporation tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like the issue of the OECD agreement, everything needs to be paused for the benefit of businesses around the country,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Mr Hunt is due to give his spring Budget on March 15 \u2014 a day being targeted by transport and civil service unions for strikes as part of long-running public sector rows over pay and working conditions.<\/p>\n
The chancellor is under pressure from the right of his party to slash taxes ahead of the next election in a bid to revive the UK\u2019s stalling economy, which only narrowly avoided falling into recession last year.<\/p>\n
Former prime ministers Mr Johnson and Liz Truss are among those advocating for cuts.<\/p>\n
It is not too late for the Chancellor to back business and end the current political obsession of regulation, high taxes and interference<\/p>\n
Priti Patel<\/p>\n
The calls come despite the tax burden on the country \u2014 the ratio of taxes as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the size of the economy \u2013 reaching their highest levels since the 1950s during Mr Johnson\u2019s time in Downing Street.<\/p>\n
Ms Truss\u2019s attempts to fire up the economy \u2014 a \u00a345 billion spree of unfunded tax cuts, announced by her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng \u2014 sent the value of the pound tumbling and pushed up mortgage rates in the autumn.<\/p>\n
The tax burden under Mr Sunak remains high following the aftermath of the fallout from Ms Truss\u2019s mini-budget.<\/p>\n
Following Mr Hunt\u2019s autumn statement in November, the Office for Budget Responsibility said plans for almost \u00a325 billion in tax increases and more than \u00a330 billion in spending cuts by 2027-28 would see the tax burden peak at 37.5 per cent in 2024\/25 \u2014 its highest level since the end of the Second World War.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Mr Hunt appeared to rule out changing course on taxes after being handed a surprise monthly surplus in January thanks in part to lower public borrowing than forecast.<\/p>\n
The Office for National Statistics revealed that the Government reported a surplus \u2014 when tax revenue received is larger than government spending \u2014 of \u00a35.4 billion last month, driven by record returns from self-assessed income tax.<\/p>\n
However, Mr Hunt told reporters that the numbers were \u201cnot anything like as significant as people are talking about\u201d.<\/p>\n
The UK Government has previously defended the planned corporation tax rise, saying it \u201cwill still be the lowest in the G7\u201d even after April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politicsGet our free Inside Politics email Former home secretary Priti Patel has urged chancellor Jeremy Hunt to use his Budget next month to halt the planned corporation tax rise. The senior Conservative has argued that \u201cnow is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n