Sunak gives UK economy a new boost to see out COVID crisis, tax rises ahead

　イギリスもコロナに苦しみ、50年ぶりに法人税が引き上げされることになった。コロナ対策費の負担を2023年から黒字企業に求めるという。

　今日のGetUpEnglishはこのニュースを読んでみよう。

　https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uks-sunak-extends-covid-rescue-140759137.html

Finance minister Rishi Sunak delivered what he hopes will be a last big spending splurge to get Britain's economy through the COVID-19 crisis, and announced a corporate tax hike from 2023 as he began to focus on the huge hit to the public finances.

　big spending splurgeは「大規模な財政出動」

　splurgeはこの場合は「散財」

　動詞としても使われる。すでにGetUpEnglishで紹介した。

　https://blog.goo.ne.jp/getupenglish/e/6cf829e3b14ef9b54c0ccead04fa4aef

　スピーキングテストもふたたび受験を再開した。特にTOEFL-iBTは家で受けられるのでありがたい。

　https://www.toefl-ibt.jp/test_takers/at-home.html

Sunak said in an annual budget speech on Wednesday that the economy would return to its pre-pandemic size in mid-2022, six months earlier than previously forecast, helped by Europe's fastest coronavirus vaccination programme.

　Sunakはイギリスの財務大臣Rishi Sunak(1980- )。

But lasting economic damage equivalent to 3% of annual output would persist, and 65 billion pounds ($91 billion) of extra support was needed in the short term as restrictions were lifted over the next few months, he said.

Sunak's early warning that he will demand more money from companies - and most individual taxpayers too - makes him one of the first policymakers from rich countries to set out a plan to tighten budget policy after the pandemic.

Britain's first rise in corporation tax since 1974 will see big, profitable companies pay 25% from 2023 compared to 19% now and the overall rate of taxation in the economy increase to its highest since 1969.

But before then firms can use a two-year "super-deduction" tax break that Sunak hopes will snap them out of their pandemic deep-freeze and invest to boost short-term growth.

　super-deductionは「大幅減税」

　snapは「～を脱出させる」

　deep-freezeは「急速に冷え込んだ経済」

The government's budget watchdog said the move was likely to bring forward investment that would have taken place later.

In his speech to parliament, Sunak repeated his plan to do "whatever it takes to support the British people and businesses" after the economy slumped by 10% last year.

Britain has also suffered Europe's biggest COVID-19 death toll.

"Once we are on the way to recovery, we will need to begin fixing the public finances – and I want to be honest today about our plans to do that," he said.

The support measures included a five-month extension of Britain's huge jobs rescue plan, wider help for the self-employed and the continuation of an emergency increase in welfare payments.