Mark Drakeford MS, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
I welcome the publication of the Welsh Revenue Authority’s (WRA) Annual Report and Accounts for 2023-2024 today (19 September). This document reports on the organisation’s second year of delivery against its Corporate Plan for 2022-2025.
During the year, the WRA collected almost £300 million in Land Transaction Tax (LTT) and Landfill Disposals Tax (LDT). The revenue raised from these 2 devolved Welsh taxes supports public services, such as schools and the NHS, in our Welsh communities.
The WRA has set out how it has continued to evolve its Welsh way of doing tax – by proactively engaging and supporting people to pay the correct amount of tax at the right time. Positively, the vast majority of people have continued again to pay the right tax at the right time. And I welcome this result, as we work to create a fair tax system in Wales.
This outcome is also reflected in the way the WRA has managed and collected LDT with co-operation from their strategic partners, Natural Resources Wales. The WRA’s proactive use of data analysis, intelligence sharing and enquiry activity has resulted in the collection of greater levels of LDT than would otherwise have been possible without intervention.
On future tax development, the WRA also provided important operational expertise and experience to explore a potential visitor levy for Wales, as one of the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government commitments. The WRA has made a solid start in developing greater capability internally in order to design and deliver a digital service all Welsh local authorities will be able to opt into in future.