UK Opposition Parties Call For Tax System To Be Simplified

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

10 March 2005

Both of the United Kingdom’s main political opposition parties are calling for steps to be taken to simplify the country’s taxation system, the Financial Times has reported.

Under plans to be unveiled by the Conservative Party in the run-up to the general election, the powers of the tax law rewrite project committee, established under former Conservative Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke, to simplify the language of tax legislation, would be expanded to enable it to review direct tax law and simplify or remove complex provisions where appropriate.

In comments published in the FT, George Osborne, the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, noted that the government’s policy of plugging tax loopholes on a piecemeal basis is adding more weight to an already bloated and complex tax system.

"We think the tax system is over-complicated and changes too frequently," he stated.

"The government has introduced reams of legislation to close down loopholes connected with the relief, leaving it all in something of a mess,” Mr Osborne added.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are calling for the creation of a new commission tasked with simplifying the tax system.

According to the report, the party has already drawn up a “hit list” of tax credits and reliefs, particularly in the business sector, that would be reviewed by the proposed commission.

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