Earlier this week a delegation from the Institute, including President Paul Henry, met with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (“FST”) to discuss a potential lower rate of corporation tax for Northern Ireland. Also explored in the meeting was the possibility of flexibilities to manage the impact of a reduction in corporation tax on Northern Ireland’s block grant.

This engagement is part of the Institute’s ongoing campaign to activate Northern Ireland’s corporation tax rate setting powers. A letter of thanks and follow up was subsequently sent to the Minister setting out the key elements of the discussion and action points.

The Institute views this as very much the start of a process of engagement and has plans to also raise the issue locally with Northern Ireland’s MLAs. Further discussion is therefore expected with HM Treasury on the potential suggestions made by the Institute to mitigate the impact on Northern Ireland’s block grant.

The FST was interested to hear of our members support for activating the powers and our work in general in this area including our interactions in 2021 with the Independent Fiscal Commission NI. The FST was also interested to hear about recent ESRI research which showed the economic benefits to Northern Ireland of having a corporation tax rate more in line with Republic of Ireland and the broader economic benefits this could produce.