Labour Accused Of Doubling UK Tax Legislation

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

05 September 2005

The UK's Labour government has been accused of doubling the amount of tax legislation in place in the country, according to a report in the Times last week.

Commenting on the recent publication of Tolley's Yellow Tax Handbook, which contains all of the UK's direct tax legislation for the 2005-06 tax year, the newspaper revealed that when Labour came to power in 1997, the Handbook stood at 4,555 pages. It now runs to an alarming 9,050 pages.

Speaking to the Times with regard to the increase, George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, argued that:

“The Chancellor’s constant meddling and increased complexity mean that UK business has to devote more and more time to tax compliance, time which would be better spent on customers and products. When will Gordon Brown wake up and notice that overseas competitors are simplifying their tax laws to encourage, not burden, business?”

However, a Treasury spokesman responded by observing that:

“Simply counting the pages of a handbook does not represent the Government’s tax reforms. In fact, the Government takes tackling complexity very seriously and has a good record on measures to simplify the tax system.”

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