Labour Party publishes Business Tax Plan 2024

Now more than ever, businesses need confidence to invest. This demands a tax system that is competitive, proportionate and enables both long-term planning and sustainable funding for our public services.  

That is why the CBI called for a tax system that is simple, certain, proportionate and internationally competitive in our Business Tax Roadmap.

Labour’s commitment to introduce a Business Tax Plan draws directly on the CBI’s recommendations. With a strong focus on stability, it can give businesses the certainty they need to invest over the years and decades to come.  

Key policies in their Plan include: 

• Ensuring the headline corporation tax rate remains competitive: Labour has committed not to increase it over the course of the next parliament, and to keep it under review to ensure it remains competitive, something the CBI recommended in our Business Manifesto 
• Maintaining incentives that drive investment and growth: Labour have said they will make no changes to full expensing, the annual investment allowance, R&D tax credits and the patent box. These are all incentives that the CBI has campaigned to create and protect – and they are central to getting business investment firing on all cylinders 
• Reform the business rates system: The CBI has called for fundamental reform for years, to remove barriers to investment and support key sectors like retail, logistics and travel, and Labour has committed to a review 
• Digitising the tax system: CBI members know much of the cost of the tax system is in the time, process and expertise it takes to get the admin right. Bringing administration into the twenty first century has the potential to boost productivity by as much as 11.8% for some firms, something the Labour party have recognised in their support for an effective digital tax system.  

Labour may be the first to get there, but having a plan for tax over the next parliament is something every party can get behind. The CBI tax team will continue to work to ensure cross-party consensus, and give businesses the certainty they need to turbo-charge investment and growth across every region and nation of the UK.