Budget response: corporation tax the wrong cut

UCU said that the UK already has one of the lowest levels of corporation tax in the G20 and its future is not as a haven for companies looking to move capital, but with no loyalty to the UK. The union added that depriving the Treasury of billions of pounds* through tax cuts for big business made a mockery of claims that 'we are all in it together'.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Starving education of funds, axing grants like the EMA and hiking up the cost of access to college and university, while authorising billions in tax giveaways to big business, is not the way to get us back on track.
 
'If the chancellor really is on the side of aspiration, he should be making access to education easier and creating a highly-skilled workforce that can compete in the high-knowledge global economy.
 
'The UK's future is not as a haven for companies who want to move capital and have no loyalty. Lowering corporation tax will deprive the Treasury of billions of pounds and prove once again that talk of us all being in this together is utter nonsense.'

Notes
 
^ The chancellor said today in his Budget: 'We've already cut the rate from 28% to 26%. This April it is due to fall again to 25%. I can announce today a further cut of one percent - to be implemented right away. From next month, Britain will have a corporation tax rate of just 24%. And we will continue with the two further cuts planned next year and the year after. So that by 2014, Britain will have a 22% rate of corporation tax.'
 
* When the coalition government came to power UK corporation tax was 28%. It is estimated that each percentage point cut costs the UK £800m per year