According to the BBC, the chancellor wants to “lighten the tax burden” in order to stimulate economic growth.
However, he stated that a “responsible” approach was required.
In the previous year’s Autumn Statement, which outlines the government’s objectives for taxes and spending, Mr. Hunt declared a reduction of the primary National Insurance rate from 12% to 10%.
But according to the Times newspaper, he stated at a cabinet meeting this week that there would probably be less opportunity for tax cuts in the 2019 Budget on March 6 due to “major structural weaknesses” in the economy, such as low productivity.
When questioned about the reports, Mr. Hunt stated he was waiting on the “final numbers” from the impartial Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast.
Prior to budgets, the government receives economic estimates from the OBR that contain a measure of the potential leeway for tax cuts or expenditure increases.
“It doesn’t look to me like we will have the same scope for cutting taxes in the spring Budget that we had in the Autumn Statement,” Hunt stated.
“And so I need to set people’s expectations about the scale of what I’m doing because people need to know that when a Conservative government cuts taxes we will do so in a responsible and sensible way.”
He said, “But Additionally, we want to be quite clear that the path we wish to take is to reduce the tax burden.”
