Corporation Tax
Finance and Personnel
3:15 pm
Sammy Wilson (DUP)
There are. One of the big debates at present has been around whether we should set up enterprise zones in Northern Ireland. The Executive have not taken a view on that because many of the benefits of enterprise zones that exist in England, Scotland and Wales are already available right across Northern Ireland: for example, access to broadband, rates reductions for the manufacturing industry, certain planning restrictions being lifted, etc. However, one benefit that we have been pursuing with the Treasury is the capital allowance aspect of enterprise zones, and I know that Arlene Foster has done quite a lot of work on that. Indeed, many businesses tell me that, because they will not make huge profits anyway for the first few years, allowances based on the amount of capital that they have to invest initially could be very attractive to them. That is one of the fiscal issues that we need to discuss more fully with the Treasury.