Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish a response to Early Day Motion 420 on Introducing a wealth tax.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government is committed to a fair tax system in which those with the most contribute the most. The UK already taxes assets and wealth across many different economic activities, including the acquisition, holding, transfer and disposal of assets, and income derived from assets.
Notably, the Wealth Tax Commission, which has no connection or link to the Government, found that if considering Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Land Tax, the UK is among the top of the G7 countries for wealth taxes as a percentage of total wealth.
The priority right now remains to support jobs and the economy. Getting people back to work and encouraging and incentivising businesses to take on new employees and new apprentices ultimately creates the wealth that funds our public services.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Deputy Prime Minister of 22 September 2021, Official Report, Column 277, that Chevening is funded by a charity and not the public purse, whether that charity has received any funding through the Gift Aid scheme in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HM Revenue and Customs has a statutory duty to maintain taxpayer confidentiality, and cannot comment on the affairs of individual organisations.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total tax receipts paid to the UK Exchequer by UK citizens registered as overseas electors in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
No estimate has been made of the information requested. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cannot identify individuals registered as overseas electors within tax data.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens registered as overseas electors who have been liable for (a) UK Income Tax and (b) UK Capital Gains Tax in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
No estimate has been made of the information requested. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cannot identify individuals registered as overseas electors within tax data.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total number of unauthorised withdrawals from Lifetime ISAs was in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by John Glen
Information on unauthorised Lifetime ISA withdrawals will be published in the next HMRC savings statistics publication and will be available via the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have been charged for making unauthorised withdrawals from Lifetime ISAs in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by John Glen
Information on unauthorised Lifetime ISA withdrawals will be published in the next HMRC savings statistics publication and will be available via the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of restricting tax relief for private equity companies which take over UK-based companies to (a) prevent them from offsetting debt against their corporation tax liability and (b) require them to pay tax on their turnover.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Groups of companies which are owned by private equity funds are subject to the same UK tax rules as other companies. The UK has some of the world’s most comprehensive rules limiting relief for interest. Tax relief is only available for interest on debts incurred for commercial purposes and on arm’s length terms. It is further limited by the Corporate Interest Restriction, introduced from 2017 in line with the OECD-G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project.
Unlike profit taxes, a turnover tax would not take into account businesses’ ability to pay, meaning those with low profit margins would be disproportionately burdened. If applied to all businesses in a supply chain, multiple layers of tax could accrue, the cost of which could be passed onto consumers. Rather than applying a general turnover tax, the UK has a value added tax, VAT, which applies to all companies with taxable turnover over the threshold, including companies owned by private equity funds.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward the next grant for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme to assist people who require support now.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is committed to supporting the self-employed population during the COVID-19 pandemic through a substantial package of support.
The three Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants combined provided up to £21,570 of support for each individual, placing the SEISS among the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world. As of 31 December, about 2.7 million individuals have made claims totalling over £18.9 billion so far across all three grants.
The claims window for the third grant closed on 29 January 2021. The Government committed on 24 September 2020 that there would be a fourth grant; details of which will be announced alongside other economic updates at Budget in March.
The SEISS is not intended to provide a month-by-month replacement of income. Due to the volatility of self-employed income and the lack of granular data that HMRC hold on self-employed trading profits, precise mapping of income replacement month by month is not possible. Instead, the SEISS provides a lump sum payment to support eligible self-employed individuals whose businesses have been affected by coronavirus.
The SEISS continues to be just one element of a substantial package of support for the self-employed. In addition to the SEISS, individuals may also have access to other elements of the package, including Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support, mortgage holidays, self-isolation support payments and other business support grants.