The government is to introduce a Bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972, which will retain all existing EU law applying to the UK, whilst allowing for changes to be made by secondary legislation as exit negotiations proceed with the EU. This is meant to ‘ensure that legislation is passed in advance so that EU law ceases to apply and domestic law can take its place on the day of exit’, the government said. The prime minister has announced the government’s intention to trigger the formal ‘article 50’ two-year exit process by the end of March 2017. See www.bit.ly/2dvfOYm.
The chancellor appears to have rowed back from his predecessor’s proposals to cut the corporation tax rate to 15%. The former chancellor’s announcement was intended to send a message to global industries that, despite the vote for Brexit, the UK was ‘open for business’. It appears that Philip Hammond intends to stick to the UK government’s current policy of cutting rates to 17% by April 2020.
In the run up to the Autumn Statement, the Institute for Government (IfG), Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) have written an open letter to the chancellor, outlining a number of changes they suggest would improve and simplify the making of tax policy and the tax system. The recommendations include:
• returning to a single annual fiscal event, to stop Autumn Statements becoming second Budgets, leading to a proliferation of measures. Reducing the frequency of significant changes would release resources for better consultation, produce higher quality legislation and enable more effective implementation;
• establishing clear guiding principles and priorities, to give a clear indication of the ‘direction of travel for tax policy’;
• extending the roadmap approach, pointing to a clear direction for the future, particularly in areas where taxpayers need to plan and make long term decisions, such as pensions and savings;
• starting the consultation process for tax changes at an earlier stage, to avoid determining the main changes before proper consultation and thereby avoiding costly errors and embarrassing U-turns; and
• preparing the ground for future policy changes through external reviews on broader areas of tax policy.
Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, commented that: ‘Too many changes are sprung on the country in too many fiscal events with too little sense of direction, consultation or evaluation.’
Jill Rutter, programme director of the IfG, expressed her wish to see ‘clearer direction, fewer surprises, a radical reduction in the number of measures and a willingness to engage the public on the big choices’.
The contents of the open letter reflects the initial findings of the IfG, IFS and CIOT’s project looking into how to improve budgets and tax. A full report is expected to be published later in the year. See www.bit.ly/2dI0hUt.
The government is to introduce a Bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972, which will retain all existing EU law applying to the UK, whilst allowing for changes to be made by secondary legislation as exit negotiations proceed with the EU. This is meant to ‘ensure that legislation is passed in advance so that EU law ceases to apply and domestic law can take its place on the day of exit’, the government said. The prime minister has announced the government’s intention to trigger the formal ‘article 50’ two-year exit process by the end of March 2017. See www.bit.ly/2dvfOYm.
The chancellor appears to have rowed back from his predecessor’s proposals to cut the corporation tax rate to 15%. The former chancellor’s announcement was intended to send a message to global industries that, despite the vote for Brexit, the UK was ‘open for business’. It appears that Philip Hammond intends to stick to the UK government’s current policy of cutting rates to 17% by April 2020.
In the run up to the Autumn Statement, the Institute for Government (IfG), Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) have written an open letter to the chancellor, outlining a number of changes they suggest would improve and simplify the making of tax policy and the tax system. The recommendations include:
• returning to a single annual fiscal event, to stop Autumn Statements becoming second Budgets, leading to a proliferation of measures. Reducing the frequency of significant changes would release resources for better consultation, produce higher quality legislation and enable more effective implementation;
• establishing clear guiding principles and priorities, to give a clear indication of the ‘direction of travel for tax policy’;
• extending the roadmap approach, pointing to a clear direction for the future, particularly in areas where taxpayers need to plan and make long term decisions, such as pensions and savings;
• starting the consultation process for tax changes at an earlier stage, to avoid determining the main changes before proper consultation and thereby avoiding costly errors and embarrassing U-turns; and
• preparing the ground for future policy changes through external reviews on broader areas of tax policy.
Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, commented that: ‘Too many changes are sprung on the country in too many fiscal events with too little sense of direction, consultation or evaluation.’
Jill Rutter, programme director of the IfG, expressed her wish to see ‘clearer direction, fewer surprises, a radical reduction in the number of measures and a willingness to engage the public on the big choices’.
The contents of the open letter reflects the initial findings of the IfG, IFS and CIOT’s project looking into how to improve budgets and tax. A full report is expected to be published later in the year. See www.bit.ly/2dI0hUt.
