LONDON (UK) – The Times reported on Friday that finance minister Rishi Sunak was slated to delay plans for tax hike until late this year.
According to a source, the upcoming budget on March 3 was the “wrong time” for tax hikes and the plans were likely to be put on hold until autumn, said the report.
The minister also dismissed calls to extend a temporary slash to taxes on property purchases, known as stamp duty, that is expiring at the end of March, said the Times.
Analysts say this temporary tax cut helped to fuel a pandemic boom in Britain’s housing market as buyers sought bigger houses with gardens during the coronavirus lockdown.
Sunak launched a 4.6 billion pound ($6.2 billion) support package for businesses on Tuesday to soften an expected recession caused by a surge in COVID-19 cases that has triggered a third national lockdown.
Sunak has previously announced emergency help for the economy worth 280 billion pounds, including a massive job protection scheme that will run until the end of April.
Britain’s economy looks likely to tip back into recession – shrinking in the final quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 – following a record 25% fall in output in the first two months of lockdown last year.