Tax experts frustrated at the lack of knowledge shown by many MPs, and the poor quality of much of the public debate on tax avoidance, have been invited to “adopt an MP”.
Tax experts frustrated at the lack of knowledge shown by many MPs, and the poor quality of much of the public debate on tax avoidance, have been invited to “adopt an MP”.
Mike Truman, editor of Taxation magazine, said the idea was suggested by tax expert Heather Self after a debate hosted by the law firm Pinsent Masons, where she is a partner.
Tax advisers would explain to their local MP “the real facts behind the tax issues that hit the public eye, and generally act as a sanity check on some of the nonsense pumped out about tax”, Truman wrote in this week’s issue of Taxation (registration required).
Lin Homer, chief executive at HMRC, agreed that it “sounded like an interesting idea” when it was put to her at a Taxation event last week, he said. The quality of the Commons public accounts committee’s report on tax avoidance and the role of large accountancy firms showed “how urgent it is that we get this off the ground”.
He added: “When the standard of the debate is as low as this, we really have to do something.”
Truman indicated that his contribution to the debate will be “more analytical” than his intervention earlier this year, when he declared that the PAC chairman, Margaret Hodge, was his “tax prat of the year”.
Some aspects of last week’s PAC report were welcome, he said. However, there was no evidence to justify the committee’s conclusion on the role of secondees to HMRC and the Treasury.
The report’s weaknesses were compounded, Truman suggested, by “inevitable misreporting an exaggeration in mainstream media”.
He added: “MPs need to be given clear, dispassionate advice on the tax system. This isn’t a role for crusaders, and it’s not the opportunity to push your particular view on how the tax system should be structured.”
He invited tax professionals interested in giving MPs the information they need, rather than promoting their own views, to email him. “Together we will work out the rest of the details in the coming weeks, but let’s see if we can turn this debate around,” he said.
Taxation is published by LexisNexis, which also publishes Tax Journal.
Tax experts frustrated at the lack of knowledge shown by many MPs, and the poor quality of much of the public debate on tax avoidance, have been invited to “adopt an MP”.
Tax experts frustrated at the lack of knowledge shown by many MPs, and the poor quality of much of the public debate on tax avoidance, have been invited to “adopt an MP”.
Mike Truman, editor of Taxation magazine, said the idea was suggested by tax expert Heather Self after a debate hosted by the law firm Pinsent Masons, where she is a partner.
Tax advisers would explain to their local MP “the real facts behind the tax issues that hit the public eye, and generally act as a sanity check on some of the nonsense pumped out about tax”, Truman wrote in this week’s issue of Taxation (registration required).
Lin Homer, chief executive at HMRC, agreed that it “sounded like an interesting idea” when it was put to her at a Taxation event last week, he said. The quality of the Commons public accounts committee’s report on tax avoidance and the role of large accountancy firms showed “how urgent it is that we get this off the ground”.
He added: “When the standard of the debate is as low as this, we really have to do something.”
Truman indicated that his contribution to the debate will be “more analytical” than his intervention earlier this year, when he declared that the PAC chairman, Margaret Hodge, was his “tax prat of the year”.
Some aspects of last week’s PAC report were welcome, he said. However, there was no evidence to justify the committee’s conclusion on the role of secondees to HMRC and the Treasury.
The report’s weaknesses were compounded, Truman suggested, by “inevitable misreporting an exaggeration in mainstream media”.
He added: “MPs need to be given clear, dispassionate advice on the tax system. This isn’t a role for crusaders, and it’s not the opportunity to push your particular view on how the tax system should be structured.”
He invited tax professionals interested in giving MPs the information they need, rather than promoting their own views, to email him. “Together we will work out the rest of the details in the coming weeks, but let’s see if we can turn this debate around,” he said.
Taxation is published by LexisNexis, which also publishes Tax Journal.
