STORY: UK chancellor announces major tax cut to boost economic growth
SHOOTING TIME: Nov. 22, 2023/file
DATELINE: Nov. 23, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:00
LOCATION: London
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Downing Street No.11 (office of British Chancellor of the Exchequer)
3. SOUNDBITE (English): JEREMY HUNT, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (UK Parliament TV)
3. various of streets in London, NHS strikes and shops in Manchester (2023 files)

STORYLINE:

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday announced a package of tax cuts for businesses and workers, designed to boost the country's economic growth.

SOUNDBITE (English): JEREMY HUNT, British Chancellor of the Exchequer
"In today's Autumn Statement for Growth, our choice is not big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth, not more. Instead, we reduce debt, cut taxes and reward work.
The Office for Budget Responsibility said that the combined impact of these measures will raise business investment, get more people into work, reduce inflation next year and increase GDP. A dynamic economy depends on the energy and enterprise of people more than any diktats or decisions by ministers. So, today's measures do not just remove barriers to investment. They reward efforts and work."

The chancellor said he will cut the main rate of National Insurance from 12 percent to 10 percent from January 2024, affecting 27 million British workers. Taxes will also be cut and simplified for two million self-employed people.

Taken together, this tax cut package is worth over 9 billion British pounds (11.2 billion U.S. dollars) per year. It is the largest ever cut to employees and the self-employed. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimated these reductions will lead to an additional 28,000 people entering work, according to a statement from the Treasury.

The Treasury promised that "cutting National Insurance will not lead to any change in NHS (National Health Service) funding or pension payments. Services will remain unchanged and continue to be funded as they are now."

The legal minimum wage, known as the National Living Wage, will increase by nearly 10 percent from 10.42 British pounds to 11.44 British pounds per hour from April 2024.

For businesses in the United Kingdom (UK), the chancellor announced the "Full Expensing: Invest for Less" permanent tax cut, a measure that helps businesses to offset their investment in information technology equipment, plants and machinery against tax.

"This means that for every million pounds a company invests, they get 250,000 pounds off their tax bill in the very same year," Hunt said, noting that this costs 11 billion British pounds a year and it is "the largest business tax cut in modern British history."

Hunt also announced that the country's state pension will increase by 8.5 percent in April 2024, and Universal Credit and other working age benefits will also be boosted by 6.7 percent in April, in line with September's inflation figure.

According to the OBR, the UK economy is expected to grow by 0.6 percent this year and 0.7 percent next year, rising to 1.4 percent in 2025.

The OBR forecast headline inflation to fall to 2.8 percent by the end of 2024, before reaching the 2 percent target set by the Bank of England for 2025.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from London.
(XHTV)