English: I'm grateful to Mark Isherwood for those questions this afternoon, and I welcome him to his new portfolio. So, Mark Isherwood began by talking about the Welsh Government's general approach to taxation, and we have a very firm foundation for our Welsh tax policy, which is set out on the basis of five principles. That is that taxation should raise revenue to support public services as fairly as possible - I'm not sure that there's much that could be disagreed with there. Taxation should help deliver wider fiscal and policy objectives, including jobs and growth. Taxation should be simple and clear and stable. And taxation should be developed through engagement with taxpayers and stakeholders. Finally, taxation should contribute directly to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 goal of creating a more equal Wales. And I do think that those are strong foundations upon which to be basing our tax policy. My statement this afternoon was in relation to the devolved taxes, which are generally known to be landfill disposals tax, land transaction tax and Welsh rates of income tax, but I know that Mark Isherwood was particularly interested in our approach to local taxation, including council tax and non-domestic rates. In terms of council tax, over the course of this Senedd term we have made significant steps forward in terms of making council tax fairer. We've exempted young care leavers from council tax to the age of 25. We've removed the sanction of imprisonment for the non-payment of council tax, because in our party we don't believe that being poor is a crime, and we've improved access to discounts for people with severe mental impairments and implemented a citizen-focused protocol for managing council tax collection and arrears, and also encouraged the take-up of all council tax support, and we've done so providing local authorities with significant financial support in order to enable them to undertake that work. In terms of the specific concerns relating to council tax premiums on long-term empty and second homes, local authorities in Wales do have that discretionary power to apply those premiums of up to 100 per cent on the council tax bills for long-term empty and second homes in their areas. Those powers have been available since 2017. Local authorities asked for those powers, and we were pleased to provide them. Now, it is for each local authority to decide how they will undertake their - what decision they will make as to whether or not they will use that power locally. In terms of land transaction tax and the impact on business, well, the decision that I announced alongside the draft budget is that businesses now, in the main, will be paying no tax on purchases of non-residential property costing less than up to £225,000. This will provide a small but material amount of additional support to businesses by reducing the capital required to invest in new business property, and those changes will result in fewer non-residential transactions paying tax on the acquisition of a property when entering into a new lease, and it will provide a tax saving to all of those businesses who buy property on which there will still be a tax liability. The largest savings as a proportion of the tax payable will impact most on small and medium-sized business. So, I took this decision being very mindful of the difficult period in which small businesses particularly are finding themselves in, and understanding that we have many entrepreneurs who are keen to set up a small business, and I want to create the right climate for them to be able to do so. And then finally, on new taxes, you'll see from our tax work plan that we've been exploring very diligently the various types of new taxes that could be introduced in Wales, and the four that we chose to explore in the first instance were those that came through very strongly in the public consultation that we undertook. The First Minister, when he was in this role, led on that consultation, and actually I think around 200 ideas for new taxes came forward from people across Wales. And we undertook to explore the tourism tax, a potential tax on plastics, for example, but, in the first instance, we determined that we would take forward the potential tax and seek to devolve the powers for tax for vacant land, and, as I said in my statement, that really has fallen at the first hurdle. We've had a very difficult time engaging with the UK Government meaningfully on this, and it's a great shame that we haven't managed to make a success of what is a relatively uncontroversial and simple request.
Welsh: Rwy'n ddiolchgar i Mark Isherwood am y cwestiynau yna y prynhawn yma, ac rwy'n ei groesawu i'w bortffolio newydd. Felly, dechreuodd Mark Isherwood drwy sôn am ddull cyffredinol Llywodraeth Cymru o drethu, ac mae gennym sylfaen gadarn iawn ar gyfer ein polisi treth i Gymru, a nodir ar sail pum egwyddor. Hynny yw y dylai trethiant godi refeniw i gefnogi gwasanaethau cyhoeddus mewn modd mor deg â phosibl - nid wyf yn siŵr a oes llawer y gellid anghytuno ag ef yn y fan yna. Dylai trethiant helpu i gyflawni amcanion cyllidol a pholisi ehangach, gan gynnwys swyddi a thwf. Dylai trethiant fod yn syml ac yn glir ac yn sefydlog. A dylid datblygu trethiant drwy ymgysylltu â threthdalwyr a rhanddeiliaid. Yn olaf, dylai trethiant gyfrannu'n uniongyrchol at nod Deddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau'r Dyfodol (Cymru) 2015 o greu Cymru fwy cyfartal. Ac rwy'n credu bod y rheini'n sylfeini cryf i seilio ein polisi treth arnynt Roedd fy natganiad y prynhawn yma'n ymwneud â'r trethi datganoledig, y gwyddys yn gyffredinol eu bod yn dreth gwarediadau tirlenwi, treth trafodiadau tir a chyfraddau treth incwm Cymru, ond gwn fod gan Mark Isherwood ddiddordeb arbennig yn ein hymagwedd at drethiant lleol, gan gynnwys y dreth gyngor ac ardrethi annomestig. O ran y dreth gyngor, yn ystod tymor y Senedd hon rydym wedi cymryd camau sylweddol ymlaen o ran gwneud y dreth gyngor yn decach. Rydym wedi eithrio pobl ifanc sy'n gadael gofal o'r dreth gyngor hyd at 25 oed. Rydym wedi dileu'r gosb o garchar am beidio â thalu'r dreth gyngor, oherwydd yn ein plaid ni nid ydym yn credu mai trosedd yw bod yn dlawd, ac rydym wedi gwella'r modd y sicrheir gostyngiadau ar gyfer pobl â namau meddyliol difrifol ac wedi gweithredu protocol sy'n canolbwyntio ar y dinesydd ar gyfer rheoli'r broses o gasglu'r dreth gyngor ac ôl-ddyledion, a hefyd wedi annog pobl i fanteisio ar yr holl gymorth sydd ar gael o ran y dreth gyngor, ac rydym wedi gwneud hynny gan roi cymorth ariannol sylweddol i awdurdodau lleol er mwyn eu galluogi i ymgymryd â'r gwaith hwnnw. O ran y pryderon penodol sy'n ymwneud â phremiymau'r dreth gyngor ar gartrefi gwag hirdymor ac ail gartrefi, mae gan awdurdodau lleol yng Nghymru y pŵer disgresiwn hwnnw i osod y premiymau hynny o hyd at 100 y cant ar filiau'r dreth gyngor ar gyfer cartrefi gwag hirdymor ac ail gartrefi yn eu hardaloedd. Mae'r pwerau hynny wedi bod ar gael ers 2017. Gofynnodd awdurdodau lleol am y pwerau hynny, ac roeddem yn falch o'u darparu. Nawr, mater i bob awdurdod lleol yw penderfynu sut y bydd yn ymgymryd â'i benderfyniad - pa benderfyniad y bydd yn ei wneud ynghylch a fydd yn defnyddio'r pŵer hwnnw'n lleol ai peidio. O ran treth trafodiadau tir a'r effaith ar fusnes, wel, y penderfyniad a gyhoeddais ochr yn ochr â'r gyllideb ddrafft yw na fydd busnesau nawr, ar y cyfan, yn talu treth ar brynu eiddo dibreswyl sy'n costio llai na £225,000. Bydd hyn yn rhoi swm bach ond pwysig o gymorth ychwanegol i fusnesau drwy leihau'r cyfalaf sydd ei angen i fuddsoddi mewn eiddo busnes newydd, a bydd y newidiadau hynny'n arwain at lai o drafodion dibreswyl yn talu treth ar gaffael eiddo wrth ymrwymo i brydles newydd, a bydd yn arbed treth i'r holl fusnesau hynny sy'n prynu eiddo y bydd rhwymedigaeth dreth arno o hyd. Bydd yr arbedion mwyaf fel cyfran o'r dreth sy'n daladwy yn effeithio fwyaf ar fusnesau bach a chanolig eu maint. Felly, gwnes y penderfyniad hwn yn ymwybodol iawn o'r cyfnod anodd y mae busnesau bach yn arbennig ynddo, gan ddeall bod gennym lawer o entrepreneuriaid sy'n awyddus i sefydlu busnes bach, ac rwyf am greu'r hinsawdd iawn er mwyn iddyn nhw allu gwneud hynny. Ac yna'n olaf, ar drethi newydd, fe welwch o'n cynllun gwaith treth ein bod wedi bod yn archwilio'n ddiwyd iawn y gwahanol fathau o drethi newydd y gellid eu cyflwyno yng Nghymru, a'r pedwar a wnaethom eu dewis i'w harchwilio yn y lle cyntaf oedd y rhai a ymddangosodd yn gryf iawn yn yr ymgynghoriad cyhoeddus a gynhaliwyd gennym. Arweiniodd y Prif Weinidog, pan oedd yn y swyddogaeth hon, at yr ymgynghoriad hwnnw, ac mewn gwirionedd credaf fod tua 200 o syniadau ar gyfer trethi newydd wedi'u cyflwyno gan bobl ledled Cymru. Ac aethom ati i archwilio'r dreth dwristiaeth, treth bosibl ar blastigau, er enghraifft, ond, yn y lle cyntaf, fe wnaethom y penderfyniad y byddem yn bwrw ymlaen â'r dreth bosibl ac yn ceisio datganoli'r pwerau treth ar gyfer tir gwag, ac, fel y dywedais yn fy natganiad, mae hynny wedi methu ar y cam cyntaf. Rydym wedi cael amser anodd iawn yn ymgysylltu â Llywodraeth y DU yn ystyrlon ar hyn, ac mae'n drueni mawr nad ydym wedi llwyddo gyda chais cymharol annadleuol a syml.