Timetable in place for tax committee
A timetable has been set by the Chartered Institute of Taxation to consult on its proposal for a tax practice committee that would oversee the implementation of 'simpler' tax policy.
The institute’s president, and PricewaterhousCoopers partner, John Whiting has revealed he is currently writing to consumer, professional and governmental bodies asking for comments.
He hopes to publish a formal consultation paper in September and a symposium to discuss the project is planned for December or January.
This should be followed closely by a more detailed proposal for the committee.
He has not ruled out the possibility of running an unofficial shadow tax committee that would offer opinion on tax policy in a bid to demonstrate its effectiveness.
Future membership of the committee is yet to be settled but Whiting hopes that they would come from the bodies affected by tax policy.
The first idea voiced by Whiting was for a tax ‘policy’ committee that was characterised as mirroring the work of the monetary policy committee.
But, Whiting has since changed tack renaming the proposed body a ‘practice’ committee concerned with the procedural and implementation aspects of tax policy and not the policy itself.
Whiting’s idea has already been criticised for potentially clashing with the authority of the Treasury and it is understood that some senior civil servants have already discussed the proposal.
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