Northern Ireland Conservatives chairman, Irwin Armstrong, said it “beggars belief” that Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson, will not consider cutting corporation tax for at least four more years, should the power to do so be devolved to Stormont.
“People need work now, yet Wilson wants to delay our best plan to tackle unemployment until 2015 at the earliest. That will certainly bring smiles to the faces of government officials in Dublin, because the Finance Minister has just indicated that Northern Ireland doesn’t even intend to compete for jobs and investment for at least four years.”
“Sammy keeps talking about cuts to Northern Ireland’s finances, if corporation tax is lowered, but that is absolute nonsense. Cutting corporation tax simply means that cash will be transferred out of politicians’ hands, to where it can be used most effectively - combating unemployment and creating prosperity. It will allow exceptional local companies like Randox, Wrightbus, Almac and Andor to grow and attract new inward investment to our shores. Who should the unemployed trust to create new jobs – the politicians or successful businesses which already employ tens of thousands of workers? ”
“The DUP styles itself a ‘low tax party’, but its Finance Minister would rather spend tax payer’s money sustaining an enormous civil service than put it to work creating private sector jobs, through the efforts of our entrepreneurs and wealth creators”.
“Wilson constantly warns us ‘there are no guarantees’ that lower corporation tax will create employment. In this life there are rarely any guarantees, but each and every day businessmen and women use their expertise to weigh up evidence and make decisions on how best to invest their money. For the first time ever, all the main local business organisations, representing everything from one man enterprises to multinationals, are speaking with one voice when it comes to corporation tax. Yet the politicians at Stormont - and the DUP in particular - remain paralysed with indecision.”
“In his Belfast City Council days the Finance Minister was known as ‘red Sammy’. All these years later and little seems to have changed. He still appears to have no sympathy for the needs of business and wealth creators. Sammy Wilson needs to get real about the potential benefits of cutting corporation tax as early as possible - before he condemns the unemployed to four more years of joblessness.”