Gordon Brown Criticised By Media Over Tax Track Record

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

28 November 2001

You can't please all of the people all of the time, a fact of which the UK Chancellor Gordon Brown is certainly aware in the wake of his pre-budget report. However, the consensus in much of the British media seems to be that during his time in office he hasn't pleased many of the people, and not for much of the time, at that.

A Financial Times report published on Monday took a last chance to needle Mr Brown for the increase in complexity which the taxation system in the UK has undergone since he assumed the position of Chancellor, detailing some of the more nonsensical policy changes, and making recommendations for the April budget.

According to the FT, since the 1997 elections when Labour first stormed into power, Gordon Brown's 'strategic ambition' has faltered, and his mission to 'reward the worthy and eradicate market failures' has left the country's taxation system clogged and complicated.

The paper criticised the Chancellor for failing to analyse in sufficient detail how particular tax measures will actually affect the economy, and pointed to anomalies and absurdities which have arisen during his time in office, the most spectacularly silly of which is a situation where: 'bicycling employees will soon be able to receive income tax relief for six breakfasts provided free by their employers each year'!

The editorial piece did praise the Chancellor's treatment of mortgage interest relief and national insurance, however, pointing out that these two reforms shared a common core of efficiency, simplicity, and fiscal neutrality, and asking the Chancellor to bear these principles in mind when considering taxation issues in the future.

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