The landfill tax powers are included in the Wales Bill – which devolves a range of tax and borrowing powers to Wales including stamp duty and land tax.
The Bill will also allow some freedom on income tax control, although this will be subject to a separate referendum.
The House of Lords made a number of minor amendments to the Bill, all of which have been considered and approved by the House of Commons. The legislation will be passed on to the statute books when it is granted Royal Assent at the end of the year.
The Treasury first confirmed Wales would be able to set its own landfill tax in November 2013, while earlier this year a handover date for Welsh landfill tax powers was set for April 2018.
Revenues
Landfill tax revenues for the 29 Welsh landfill sites were estimated to be in the region of £50 million in 2012/13 – 4.5% of the UK total.
Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said: “Today we have taken a significant step forward on the path towards a lasting devolution settlement for Wales – making the Assembly more accountable and providing Welsh Government with the tools necessary to grow the Welsh economy.
“This government has a strong track record on devolution and by St David’s Day 2015 I will set out how we will move forward.”
He added: “The constitution is important to Wales but I am determined to end the tiring debate about powers and let the Assembly and Welsh Government get on with growing the economy and improving public services.”
The move follows the devolution of control of landfill tax in Scotland to the Scottish Government, as part of a provision of the Scotland Act 2012.
From April 2015, the Scottish Government will be fully responsible for setting levels of taxation and for the revenue generated from the tax. In October this year, Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney announced that Scotland would retain similar rates to those set by Chancellor George Osborne (see letsrecycle.com story).
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