Welsh Government launches public consultation on updating tax laws
People are being asked how they think Wales should manage changes to tax laws in the future.
The public consultation comes after the Welsh Government reviewed how it currently makes changes to Welsh tax legislation, including Land Transaction Tax and Landfill Disposals Tax.
These taxes, devolved to Wales, generate important revenue that helps fund Welsh public services.
‘Fair, effective and responsive’
Currently, some changes to tax rules require primary legislation, while others can be made through regulations. The Welsh Government is exploring the most appropriate process for making changes to ensure tax laws can be updated efficiently when needed, particularly in response to tax avoidance activities or changes to similar UK taxes.
Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford, said: “Our Welsh taxes play a crucial role in funding the public services that matter to people across Wales.
“It’s important we have the right mechanisms in place to keep our tax system fair, effective and responsive to change. At the same time, we must ensure that the mechanism is appropriately scrutinised by the Senedd.
“This consultation is about finding the best way forward for Wales – whether that’s through annual tax bills, different legislative processes, or improving our current system. I encourage anyone with an interest in how Wales manages its finances to have their say.”
Tailored approach
The Green Paper on Making Changes to the Welsh Tax Acts explores several options, including introducing annual finance bills similar to those used by the UK Parliament, or developing new legislative approaches tailored specifically for Wales.
The 12-week consultation runs until 28 November 2025 and is available on the Welsh Government website. The findings will help inform future decisions about how Wales manages its tax legislation and will be published by early 2026.
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The UK government issued a consultation on procurement reform, then 7 years after Brexit updated procurement legislation. A few days after the new guidance went live they issued another consultation on why so few Small Medium sized Enterprises get contracts.
Senedd should fund a University to compare how other countries deal with taxes to determine most appropriate model; then put those results to the public to review.
Pointless having this discussion until the Senedd actually gets taxation powers not the nonsense it currently has.
Understood, but Wales procurement spend is £10 billion per year and Senedd can influence through its’ pre-qualification criteria for contract. I used to mentor a procurement manager at Network Rail who returned to Estonia to lead Europes largest infrastructure project https://www.railbaltica.org/ – one plan for all road, rail, seaports and airport projects. That project only allowed organisations with a registered office in Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia tender for work – so Dublin based Amazon could not tender. Frances Vinci Construction bought construction companies in the region and has been awarded lots of lucrative contracts. Now that region has also got… Read more »
Any deviation from simply accepting the cheapest contract bid means procurement budgets don’t stretch as far. So there needs to be some sort of reallocation to justify accepting more expensive tenders where there are wider economic benefits. This is more difficult to justify in Wales because so many of the benefits of using local suppliers such as extra income tax, NI, VAT and corporation taxes go to London and are never seen by Cardiff Bay. You’re also on a sticky wicket by trying to support Welsh businesses due to the Internal Market Act. It’s possible that legal efforts do nothing… Read more »
Another Senedd consultation for the population of Wales. A classic example of an oxymoron .