Terrace houses in Greater Manchester, UK
Photographer: Jason Alden / Bloomberg
Photographer: Jason Alden / Bloomberg
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Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is expected to block tax increases until after the summer at the earliest due to concerns about the collapse of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Times was reported Saturday.
The country is under severe lock-in and is facing a recession, making it difficult to introduce the tax increases in the March budget, the newspaper said, citing a senior government official who did not specify . It is still too early to say whether the tax increases would be included in the budget, the person said.
No decisions have been made so far in advance, given the uncertainty in the current outlook, a Treasury official, who declined to be identified as the talks are not public, said Bloomberg.
The moves come as the government is likely to borrow 370 billion pounds ($ 502 billion) this year, more than double the 158 billion-pound deficit in the peak year of the financial crisis , according to the report.
Sunak has also rejected calls to extend stamp duty holidays on home purchases, which were introduced in July and exempted most buyers from paying the tax if they completed the purchase by March 31 this year, the paper said, without naming anyone.
The measure was supposed to be temporary to stimulate the economy.
– Supported by Leonard Kehnscherper
(Updates with additional information in the third paragraph.)