Do people in Lancashire want lower tax?
Ahead of the Autumn Statement 2023, we asked people in Lancashire if they would welcome cuts to tax and if so, where?
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00:00 Hi, I'm digital reporter Amy Sirdon. On Wednesday, November 22nd, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
00:07 Jeremy Hunt, will be delivering the autumn statement for 2023. In this he will summarise
00:12 the current state of the economy and outline any taxation or spending plans he has for
00:17 the rest of the year. As the Chancellor has already said that everything is on the table
00:22 in regards to tax cuts, I'm going out on the streets of Lancashire to see whether people
00:27 like the idea of lower taxes and where they would want to see the cuts be made if so.
00:32 Let's see what they have to say.
00:34 There's news that there might be some tax reductions in the autumn statement tomorrow.
00:39 How do you respond to that?
00:40 It sounds really helpful actually, especially at the minute everyone's just feeling the
00:45 effects of cost of living and Christmas is coming up and we don't want it to be ruined
00:50 for anybody. We want everybody to be able to afford Christmas presents and have a good
00:53 time, especially the past few years when it's been really difficult to enjoy yourself. So
00:59 yeah, really looking forward to a reduction if that's possible.
01:02 So would it help you coming up to the Christmas season if a bit was taken off your salary?
01:06 Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. I think it would help a lot of people as well. A lot of people
01:10 who are struggling a lot more than I am. Yeah.
01:14 Do you have any concerns about what the funding gap might do?
01:17 What do you mean by that?
01:20 If they reduce the tax, do you have any concerns about how the pot of money the government
01:24 then gets off us is lower?
01:27 No because I think there's a way of making it work. I don't have the expertise for that,
01:31 but I think there's a way of making it work and they know how they can reshuffle things
01:35 to support the people. They'll have it in their wheelhouse. It's just pulling the finger
01:39 out and doing it.
01:40 So you trust what they come up with tomorrow?
01:43 Yeah.
01:44 There's news that tax might be getting lowered tomorrow. Is that good news for you?
01:49 It really depends on who it's being lowered for. If it's being lowered for the normal
01:53 working class people, then I think it could be really beneficial. But if it's just for
01:57 the rich so-and-sos, then no, there's no point.
02:00 So if it's looking at income tax, you'd rather it was on the lower bands rather than higher?
02:06 Yeah, absolutely. For the people who are really struggling at the minute with the cost of
02:11 living crisis, then I think it would be beneficial. But on the higher bands, it wouldn't. No,
02:17 it's just the government benefiting their friends, in my opinion.
02:20 So things like corporation tax, which are businesses, is that something you might prefer
02:24 seeing lowered as well?
02:29 Depends on the sort of businesses. I'm not that familiar with the business side of taxes,
02:34 so I wouldn't really know, in all honesty.
02:38 On a personal front, do you have any concerns about tax getting lowered and how that might
02:42 affect your public services?
02:44 Yeah, that is a concern, I suppose, especially with how the NHS has been run lately. However,
02:53 I think if the government really wanted to fund it, they could. I think they're making
02:57 a conscious choice to spend their money elsewhere.
03:00 So you think they could make up for the lowering of tax in other ways?
03:03 Absolutely. Absolutely.