UK Scraps Payroll and Dividend Tax Rises in ‘Pro-Business’ Plan

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng scrapped planned increases in taxes on dividends and worker pay, the first part of what Prime Minister Liz Truss has called an “unashamedly pro-business” agenda.

The Treasury confirmed a 1.25 percentage-point rise in National Insurance -- introduced only in April to help fund health and social care -- will be reversed from Nov. 6. An equivalent plan to boost the dividend tax will be canceled from next April.

The decisions make good on promises Truss made in her campaign to succeed Boris Johnson. Announcing them on Thursday, a day before Kwarteng is due ...