A group of MPs has said that tax professionals should be given the opportunity to scrutinise how policy changes will be implemented during the legislative phase.
On Tuesday, the Commons’ Treasury select committee released its report on today’s principles of taxation. It recommends that the coalition produces a detailed assessment of how new taxes, or changes to existing ones, would be implemented before they become law.
This analysis would then give the tax profession time to assess their quality and bring any shortcomings to the attention of government. The review also says that the cost of compliance and ease of collection need to be quantified so that they can be compared with the outcome.
The select committee points out that sudden or unexpected changes to policy harms businesses and therefore it urges the government not to undertake sudden wholesale reform.
Vincent Oratore, the president of the CIoT, said the Institute is fully in favour of time for parliamentary scrutiny and he also welcomed the call for the set up of a specialised tax policy technical unit to help MPs understand the implications of taxation.
Also on Tuesday, David Gauke laid down the government’s plans to expand the consultation process for new tax policy changes. Starting with this year’s Budget, the coalition will publish an information and impact note for any new tax policy changes when the policy design is either final or nearing completion.
Routine changes to allowances, thresholds and tax rates will not be included in this undertaking however.
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