N. Ireland to cut stamp duty, property taxes

Income tax and stamp duty on home purchases will be cut and business taxes will be scrapped.

The Federation for Small Businesses said it was deeply disappointed that VAT for the hospitality sector was not cut.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy said that the Labour Party was not going to solve the cost-of-living crisis and needed a tax break for small businesses struggling with rising costs, as well as funding for public services and support for public sector workers who helped us through the Pandemic.

In April the basic income tax would be reduced by one percentage point to 19%, a year earlier than planned, according to Kwarteng.

The UK will have a single higher income tax rate from April because of the cut to the top rate of income tax from 45% to 40%.

Other measures include keeping the corporation tax at 19% instead of increasing it to 25% as planned.

For first time buyers the threshold will increase to 425,000, which should mean almost no first time buyers in Northern Ireland will pay stamp duty.

Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Ann McGregor said that it would be crucial for local firms competing on the island of Ireland in particular because of the planned increase in corporation tax. The North Down MP said that the trickle-down economics will only serve to assist the wealthiest in society but at a huge cost to everyone else.

Colum Eastwood, a Social Democratic and Labour Party SDLP leader, said the tax cuts were designed by millionaires for millionaires rather than those in need.