Wales’ Economic Resilience Fund will not support tax avoiders
Ni fydd Cronfa Cadernid Economaidd Cymru yn cefnogi pobl sy’n ceisio osgoi treth
Businesses whose headquarters are based in a recognised ‘tax haven’ will not be eligible for Covid-19 financial support from the Welsh Government, Ministers have announced today.
Finance Minister Rebecca Evans and Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales Ken Skates today announced that businesses owned by a company or individual living in a 100% tax haven will not be eligible for financial support from the Welsh Government’s Economic Resilience Fund.
This change will exclude a small number of large organisations from accessing the Economic Resilience Fund.
Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said:
“Despite our stretched and limited resources, we have put in place the most generous business support package in the whole of the UK. It is only right that businesses which are not contributing tax payments to our economy should not benefit from this scheme.”
Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales Ken Skates added:
“We are facing the biggest crisis of our lifetime and being able to address the economic and health implications of this crisis comes at a considerable financial cost. In line with our something for something approach, I firmly believe that businesses who don’t pay tax should not benefit from the interventions we are making to try and protect our economy.
“This decision is one of the important steps the Welsh Government is taking to build a better economy and better society for Wales.”
Notes to editors
The Welsh Government’s £500m Economic Resilience Fund offers vital support for businesses, charities and social enterprises over and above that which is available in England.
The Development Bank of Wales has already approved over 1,300 loans, totalling over £100m and safeguarding 15,000 jobs. The remaining £400m grant fund is offering support, particularly for those small and medium sized firms which are critical to the Welsh economy, alongside our charities and social enterprises.
The applications process for this fund saw an incredible 9,500 claims submitted in little more than a week. As of today, £70m of support from this Fund has already been offered to more than 5,000 businesses, charities and social enterprises and is starting to land in bank accounts right across Wales.