Taxation - 'End unfair system,' urges CIoT

The Chartered Institute of Taxation has urged the government to reverse ‘increasing unfairness’ in the taxation system.

It also raised concerns that the ‘reforming zeal’ of the government lacks direction and said consultation periods on recent new legislation were not long enough for tax professionals to give a reasoned response.

The CIoT put forward its case in its 1999 budget representations ‘Redressing the balance’, which it unveiled last week.

It argued that many legislative changes in recent years have caused unfairness in the tax system and merit early legislative attention.

Among the specific measures the CIoT is calling for is for is the withdrawal of an additional tax charge to be imposed on discretionary trusts from next April.

It was also concerned about measures in the 1998 Finance Act which meant settlors of trusts established outside the UK many years ago could find themselves landed with a capital gains tax bill.

Recent moves by the government to develop more anti-avoidance legislation are also highlighted.

The CIoT warned: ‘Anti-avoidance legislation should not be drafted in such wide-ranging terms that its consequences become uncertain.’

It adds that anti-avoidance legislation should not be drafted in a way that enmeshed the innocent with the guilty.