Commons body to monitor tax rewrite
The tax law rewrite project at the Inland Revenue is to get its own House of Commons select committee reviewing its work, writes Gavin Hinks and our parliamentary staff.
The decision was announced on Monday in a motion from paymaster general Dawn Primarolo, who said the new Joint Committee on Tax Simplification Bills would give ‘proper parliamentary scrutiny’ to bills from the project.
Primarolo said the purpose of the tax simplification Bills were to ‘rewrite the law so that it was clearer and more easily understood’. She added the Bills would also ‘make minor changes in the law’, based on recommendations from the Law Commission.
So far the project has spent years producing one bill, on capital allowances, which was introduced on 9 January. Its efforts to rewrite tax law more clearly began as far back as 1997 following a Procedure Committee report.
The new committee, which in a surprising move will include Primarolo and former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke, is made up of six members from the House of Lords and seven from the Commons.
It is not yet clear if Lord Geoffrey Howe of Aberavon, a champion of simplifying the whole tax system, will be on the committee
Controversy is already beginning to grow around the committee. During the Commons debate Tory MP John Bercow expressed his ‘distaste’ that a select committee should include a minister.
Despite this, the establishment of the joint committee has received the support of the ICAEW’s Tax Faculty. Tax experts at the Institute said the Lords had considerable tax and business experience and hoped there would be greater involvement from the House of Lords on future tax issues.
The Institute also welcomed the introduction of the Capital Allowances Bill. Peter Bickley, of theTax Faculty, said: ‘I am thrilled to see that the hard work of the Tax Law Rewrite Team has now borne fruit in the form of the Capital Allowances Bill.’
He added: ‘The plain English style of the Bill will make life easier for business people.’
Links
Simplicity and stability: The politics of tax policy
Resources & Whitepapers
Accounting Software The power of customisation in accounting systems
ICAEW attacks ‘unclear’ tax system
Capital Allowances Bill is magnificent
Additional reporting by AccountancyAge.com