Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-04-19
Topic: Social Welfare
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): With this, it will be convenient to discuss the following: Clauses 2 to 4 stand part Amendment 2, in clause 5, page 2, line 16, leave out "2022-23" This amendment would mean that the freezing of tax thresholds at 2021-22 levels did not apply until 2023-24. Amendment 3, page 2, line 18, leave out "2022-23" See the explanatory statement for Amendment 2. Amendment 4, page 2, line 25, leave out "2022-23" See the explanatory statement for Amendment 2. Clause 5 stand part Clauses 24 and 25 stand part Amendment 93, in clause 26, page 19, line 3, at end insert— ", or for the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2" This amendment would extend the income tax exemption for payments to employees in respect of the cost of obtaining antigen coronavirus tests to cover antibody coronavirus tests too. Clause 26 stand part Clause 28 stand part Amendment 92, in clause 31, page 20, line 13, at end insert— ", where the person who received the payment is not a qualifying person by virtue of Paragraph 5 of the direction given by the Treasury under section 76 of the Coronavirus Act 2020" This amendment would ensure that the one-off £500 payment to certain working households in receipt of tax credits could only be recovered where it is found that the individual was not entitled to the payment because they were knowingly concerned in underlying fraud either in relation to their tax credit award or the one-off payment. Amendment 15, page 20, line 13, at end insert— "(4) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must, no later than 5 April 2022, lay before the House of Commons an equalities impact assessment of the provisions of this section, which must cover the impact of the provisions on— (a) households at different levels of income, (b) people with protected characteristics (within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010), (c) the Treasury’s compliance with the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, (d) equality in different parts of the United Kingdom and different regions of England, and (e) child poverty." Clauses 31 to 33 stand part Clause 40 stand part Clause 86 stand part New clause 7—Assessment of revenue effects of supplementary income tax rate— "(none) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must, no later than 31 October 2021, lay before the House of Commons an assessment of the effects on tax revenues of introducing a supplementary rate of income tax, charged at a rate of 55%, above a threshold of £200,000." This new clause would require the Government to publish an assessment of the effect on tax revenues of introducing a 55% income tax rate on income over £200,000. New clause 8—Equalities impact assessment and distributional analysis of tax thresholds— "The Chancellor of the Exchequer must, no later than 5 April 2022, lay before the House of Commons an equalities impact assessment of existing income tax thresholds and a distributional analysis of— (a) the effect of reducing the income tax threshold for the additional rate to £80,000, and (b) the effect of introducing a supplementary rate of income tax, charged at a rate of 50%, above a threshold of £125,000." New clause 10—Review of changes to coronavirus support payments etc— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the impact on investment in parts of the United Kingdom and regions of England of the changes made to coronavirus support payments etc by sections 31, 32 and 33 of this Act and lay a report of that review before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act (2) A review under this section must consider the effects of the provisions on— (a) business investment, (b) employment, (c) productivity, (d) GDP growth, and (e) poverty (3) A review under this section must consider the following scenarios— (a) the coronavirus job retention scheme and the self-employment income support scheme are continued until 30th September 2021, and (b) the coronavirus job retention scheme and self- employment income support scheme are continued until 31st December 2021 (4) In this section— "parts of the United Kingdom" means— (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland; and "regions of England" has the same meaning as that used by the Office for National Statistics." This new clause would require a report comparing the effect of (a) the coronavirus job retention scheme and the self-employment income support scheme being continued until 30 September 2021, and (b) the coronavirus job retention scheme and self-employment income support scheme being continued until 31 December 2021 on various economic indicators New clause 11—Review of changes relating to cycles and cyclist’s safety equipment— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the impact on investment in parts of the United Kingdom and regions of England of the changes made by section 25 and lay a report of that review before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act (2) A review under this section must consider the effects of the provisions on— (a) business investment, (b) employment, (c) productivity, (d) GDP growth, (e) poverty, and (f) carbon emissions (3) A review under this section must consider the following scenarios— (a) the cost of a cycle is made an allowable expense on self-assessment tax return forms, and (b) the cost of a cycle is not an allowable expense on self-assessment tax return forms (4) In this section— "parts of the United Kingdom" means— (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland; and "regions of England" has the same meaning as that used by the Office for National Statistics." This new clause would require a report comparing the impact of the impact of (a) making the cost of a cycle an allowable expense on self-assessment tax return forms and (b) not doing so on various economic indicators. New clause 12—Review of impact of section 40 on equalities— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must conduct an equality impact assessment of section 40 and lay this before the House of Commons within six months of Royal Assent (2) This assessment must consider the expected impact of section 40 on individuals and groups with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010." This new clause would require the Chancellor of the Exchequer to review the impact of Clause 40 on equalities. New clause 22—Review of impact of section 40— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the impact of section 40 and lay a report of that review before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act (2) A review under this section must consider the effects of the provisions on— (a) the regional distribution of capital gains in the UK, and (b) projected receipts (3) A review under this section must consider the following scenarios— (a) capital gains tax rates are changed so as to be equal to those of income tax, and (b) capital gains tax rates remain at the level in this Act." This new clause seeks a report on the impact of equalising capital gains tax and income tax on (a)the regional distribution of capital gains in the UK, and (b) projected receipts. New clause 23—Equality impact analysis— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the equality impact of sections 1 to 5, 24 to 26, 28, 31 to 33, 40 and 86 of this Act and lay a report of that review before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act (2) A review under this section must consider— (a) the impact of those sections on households at different levels of income, (b) the impact of those sections on people with protected characteristics (within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010), (c) the impact of those sections on the Treasury’s compliance with the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, and (d) the impact of those sections on equality in different parts of the United Kingdom and different regions of England (3) A review under this section must give a separate analysis in relation to the following matters— (a) income tax, (b) employment income, (c) coronavirus support payments, (d) pension schemes, (e) investments, and (f) inheritance tax (4) In this section— "parts of the United Kingdom" means— (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland; and "regions of England" has the same meaning as that used by the Office for National Statistics." This new clause requires the Chancellor of the Exchequer to carry out and publish a review of the effects of clauses 1 to 5, 24 to 26, 28, 31 to 33, 40 and 86 of the Bill on equality in relation to households with different levels of income, people with protected characteristics, the Treasury’s public sector equality duty and on a regional basis.