Part 1: Constitutional Arrangements Chapter 7: Welsh rates of income tax: removal of referendum requirement Section 17: Welsh rates of income tax: removal of referendum requirement
Section 17 amends the Wales Act 2014 to remove the requirement for there to be a referendum in advance of the devolution of a portion of income tax.
	Subsection (2) removes sections 12 and 13 and Schedule 1 from the Wales Act 2014. Section 12 makes provision about the Order in Council that would cause the referendum to be held. Section 13 provides for how a proposed referendum can be triggered by the First Minister or a Welsh Minister, approved by Assembly resolution, and implemented by Order in Council. Schedule 1 provides the detail on how the referendum would be conducted. As the Welsh rate of income tax is now to be devolved to Wales without the need for a referendum, all of these provisions can be repealed.
	Subsection (3) removes section 14(1) of the Wales Act 2014 and amends the heading of section 14. Section 14 of the Wales Act 2014 provides for the commencement of the income tax provisions by Treasury order. As a referendum is no longer required before a portion of income tax can be devolved in Wales, the references to the referendum in section 14(1) and in the heading of section 14 can be removed.
	Subsection (4) removes section 23(8) from the Wales Act 2014. Section 23 requires an annual report by the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers on the implementation and operation of the finance measures in Part 2 of the Wales Act 2014. Section 23(8) provides that the report need not contain information on the implementation of the income tax provisions until a majority has voted in favour of these provisions in a referendum. Given this section removes the referendum requirement, section 23(8) is no longer required. Future reports under section 23 will therefore need to contain information on steps taken, or proposed to be taken, toward the implementation of the Welsh rates of income tax.
	Subsection (5) amends the commencement provisions in section 29 of the Wales Act 2014 to remove other references to the referendum that are now no longer required.