One of Britain’s business taxes is fuelling inflation. But the chancellor ignored it

Freezing business rates in the mini-Budget would have made sense by easing the pressure on businesses. But Kwasi Kwarteng instead sought to chase headlines by cutting corporation tax, writes James Moore

Retailers are under huge pressure. In April they face a 10 per cent tax hike (EPA)

Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-car crash is a failure of historic proportions. The best of it is, the supposed tax-cutting chancellor couldn’t even cut the right tax.

We’re talking about business levies. Corporation tax was the one he chose to attack, scrapping the increases planned by Rishi Sunak and setting the headline rate at 19p.

So far, so wrong. Britain has for some time had the lowest headline rate of corporation tax in the G7 but also the lowest level of business investment. Previous chancellors said their purpose in cutting it was to encourage that. It failed to do so.