Do people in Lancashire want lower tax?

Lancashire Post

Ahead of the Autumn Statement 2023, we asked people in Lancashire if they would welcome cuts to tax and if so, where?

Transcript

00:00 Hi, I'm digital reporter Amy Sirdon. On Wednesday, November 22nd, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,

00:07 Jeremy Hunt, will be delivering the autumn statement for 2023. In this he will summarise

00:12 the current state of the economy and outline any taxation or spending plans he has for

00:17 the rest of the year. As the Chancellor has already said that everything is on the table

00:22 in regards to tax cuts, I'm going out on the streets of Lancashire to see whether people

00:27 like the idea of lower taxes and where they would want to see the cuts be made if so.

00:32 Let's see what they have to say.

00:34 There's news that there might be some tax reductions in the autumn statement tomorrow.

00:39 How do you respond to that?

00:40 It sounds really helpful actually, especially at the minute everyone's just feeling the

00:45 effects of cost of living and Christmas is coming up and we don't want it to be ruined

00:50 for anybody. We want everybody to be able to afford Christmas presents and have a good

00:53 time, especially the past few years when it's been really difficult to enjoy yourself. So

00:59 yeah, really looking forward to a reduction if that's possible.

01:02 So would it help you coming up to the Christmas season if a bit was taken off your salary?

01:06 Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. I think it would help a lot of people as well. A lot of people

01:10 who are struggling a lot more than I am. Yeah.

01:14 Do you have any concerns about what the funding gap might do?

01:17 What do you mean by that?

01:20 If they reduce the tax, do you have any concerns about how the pot of money the government

01:24 then gets off us is lower?

01:27 No because I think there's a way of making it work. I don't have the expertise for that,

01:31 but I think there's a way of making it work and they know how they can reshuffle things

01:35 to support the people. They'll have it in their wheelhouse. It's just pulling the finger

01:39 out and doing it.

01:40 So you trust what they come up with tomorrow?

01:43 Yeah.

01:44 There's news that tax might be getting lowered tomorrow. Is that good news for you?

01:49 It really depends on who it's being lowered for. If it's being lowered for the normal

01:53 working class people, then I think it could be really beneficial. But if it's just for

01:57 the rich so-and-sos, then no, there's no point.

02:00 So if it's looking at income tax, you'd rather it was on the lower bands rather than higher?

02:06 Yeah, absolutely. For the people who are really struggling at the minute with the cost of

02:11 living crisis, then I think it would be beneficial. But on the higher bands, it wouldn't. No,

02:17 it's just the government benefiting their friends, in my opinion.

02:20 So things like corporation tax, which are businesses, is that something you might prefer

02:24 seeing lowered as well?

02:29 Depends on the sort of businesses. I'm not that familiar with the business side of taxes,

02:34 so I wouldn't really know, in all honesty.

02:38 On a personal front, do you have any concerns about tax getting lowered and how that might

02:42 affect your public services?

02:44 Yeah, that is a concern, I suppose, especially with how the NHS has been run lately. However,

02:53 I think if the government really wanted to fund it, they could. I think they're making

02:57 a conscious choice to spend their money elsewhere.

03:00 So you think they could make up for the lowering of tax in other ways?

03:03 Absolutely. Absolutely.

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Transcript

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