CIoT president pushes for new tax watchdog.

John Whiting, newly-appointed president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, will campaign for the creation of a tax policy committee to mirror the work of the Monetary Policy Committee.

Whiting, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and made CIoT president on Monday, sees the measure as a critical step to simplifying the tax system, which is ‘spiralling out of control’ and becoming ever more complex.

‘What we will be saying is, isn’t it time we had a group of people who could validate the changes to the system?

‘That could confirm that consultations happen properly, to keep oversight on changes, whether change is going to be a good thing and whether proper cost benefit analyses have been done,’ said Whiting.

The new president, who takes over from Richard Mannion, confesses that there is no developed blueprint for the committee but proposes the idea as ‘a way forward’ to be worked on throughout his year in office. He also readily admits such a committee is unlikely to get the independence from politicians that the MPC currently enjoys.

Others have proposed a tax policy committee before Whiting but this is the first time a senior member of one of the professional bodies has declared it as the keynote theme for his term in charge.