UK Freelancers Attack 'Toothless' Taxpayers' Charter

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

11 September 2008

The Professional Contractors Group (PCG), which represents the UK’s freelance community, is urging the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Kennedy, to reconsider her decision not to put the new Taxpayers' Charter in legislation.

“We were extremely disappointed that the government has already decided not to put the Charter on a firm legal basis,” commented PCG’s managing director John Brazier.

“The obligations on taxpayers to pay tax, and the powers open to HMRC to investigate them, are enshrined in statute; it cannot possibly be right that HMRC’s obligations to taxpayers will not be," he added.

The PCG has submitted a full response to HMRC’s consultation exercise on the scope of the Charter, and attended a workshop hosted by HMRC on September 8. PCG’s formal response argues that, “a right that is not enshrined in law is a right that cannot be accessed by the citizen; it is therefore no right at all.”

The PCG response also urges HMRC to focus more clearly on the poor state of the relationship between the taxpayer and the tax authority which, the PCG recently observed in its Tax Position Paper, has deteriorated so badly that there is a risk of taxpayers becoming less willing to comply with their lawful obligations.

“This is a serious issue for the future of the tax system,” argued Mr Brazier.

“HMRC needs to put its money where its mouth is and show that it is serious about making itself accountable; if it does not, it will be sending a clear message that it feels it should be a law unto itself, and many taxpayers will regard this as totally unacceptable in a leading democracy," he concluded.

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