Income tax: Green Party backs 'fair increase' to fund NHS

Anthony Slaughter (R) said the party's manifesto sets out "a bold but achievable plan"

The Green Party would back a "fair increase" in income tax to provide more money for the Welsh NHS and councils, its leader has said.

Anthony Slaughter said "people with the broadest shoulders" should pay the most.

He also said his party wanted to see the Welsh government's spending reprioritised away from "massive road-building".

The vote for the next Welsh Parliament is on Thursday.

In its manifesto, the Greens promised the NHS and councils would "have the funding needed to increase capacity".

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Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre said post-pandemic pressures and current UK government spending plans suggest tough choices and trade-offs for the next Welsh government.

Asked by BBC's Politics Wales programme how the party proposed to fund the increased spending on the NHS, Mr Slaughter said: "What we've found in the pandemic is when the money was needed, it was found.

"We've had decades of austerity, being told the national budget isn't the same as the household budget.

"It's a challenge, there will be difficult decisions to be made but the money is there if it's needed."

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He said there would be "trade-offs" within the current Welsh government budget, as money was being spent in areas "that are actually making the climate emergency worse".

Asked if the party would back an income tax rise to increase funding for public services, Mr Slaughter said: "We'd back a fair increase in taxes. We believe in the people with the broadest shoulders paying the most."

According to the latest government analysis, a 1p increase in the highest income tax band for people earning over £150,000 would only increase the budget by £3m.

A 1p increase to the higher rate - earnings between £50,271 and £150,000 - would generate an extra £23m for the government, while a 1p increase in the basic rate for people earning between £12,571 and £50,270 would generate £177m.

The party's manifesto includes a commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

New legal targets to eliminate the gases driving climate change by 2050 are set to be introduced by the Welsh government.

However, Mr Slaughter said the 2050 target was "too little and too late".

Friends of the Earth Cymru's analysis of the manifesto said: "The extremely ambitious target of a net zero Wales by 2030, which is a steeper pathway than experts such as the Tyndall Centre recommend even, is far from being matched by the policies proposed."

Mr Slaughter responded: "I would argue that our policies would hit those targets. It's an ambitious target and we need to be ambitious."

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