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Weekly diary: Scots open door to tax devolution

19th Sep 2014
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Thought the devolution debate was over? Think again - it's only just starting if the mayor of Bristol gets his way.

Scots open the door to tax devoution

With all the attention on the action north of the border as the Scottish nation voted in huge numbers against independence, prime minister David Cameron may come to regret his moment of weakness in agreeing to the SNP’s demands for the referendum.

Now everybody’s at it.

As the polls got increasingly tight ahead of the vote, the three main party leaders slapped together a last-ditch package of “devo max” proposals giving Scotland more powers over its tax collection and expenditures.

This did not go down well in Wales, Northern Ireland - or Bristol.

The city’s independent mayor, George Ferguson, took his soapbox to economia to argue that Westminster’s centralised control was stifling the whole country and that the UK’s cities, too, should be given the same freedom the Scots are likely to get.

“Currently little more than 5% of our total tax take is retained locally, leaving us with the indignity of having to beg for what is due to us from the government of the time,” he wrote.

Even UKIP leader Nigel Farage appeared to jump on the decentralisation bandwagon by calling for English regions to get some of the powers being contemplated for Scotland.

All the arguments may end up as froth and jetsam on the political waters once the referendum storm subsides, but David Cameron, the Chancellor and their Treasury advisers must be gnashing their teeth at the havoc they unleashed when they opened the Pandora’s box of independence.

Where will it all end, we wonder.

* * *

Daniel Dover - It’s the way he tells ‘em

BDO hosted a gathering of accountancy’s glitterati on Wednesday evening for the launch of partner Daniel Dover’s latest book, ‘HMRC: Her Majesty’s Roller Coaster’.

Dover has some history in this area, having published previous titles such as ‘An Inspector Returns’ and ‘The Taxman Always Rings Twice’. It speaks a lot for Daniel that along with an extensive network of family and friends, some characters were there who haven’t shown their faces at BDO HQ for a long time.

 HMRC 'We've got what it takes to take what you've got" T-shirtThe most surprising invitee was Margaret Hodge MP, the scourge of HMRC in her role as chair of the Public Accounts Committee. Hodge unfortunately had to send her apologies after being involved in an unfortunate encounter with a motorcyclist in her car earlier that day. That left Dover and his senior partner Paul Eagland with time to fill on the podium, which they did by trading jokes. Their patter continued through the evening, and the humourous tone was boosted by samples from Dover’s collection of cartoons, including the efforts from Pugh that illustrate his book. The office walls were festooned with 50-60 other specimens and his dealer revealed that he has another nine crates of them in storage.

Mrs Hodge was not forgotten. In her absence, Dover unveiled a special present for her (pictured above, right): an HMRC T-shirt with the slogan: “We’ve got what it takes to take what you’ve got.”

* * *

What’s to blame for forecasting statis?

The AccountingWEB editor met up with an old friend this week, global turnaround doctor and spreadsheet modelling guru Dr Geoff Bristow.

He dampened the mood somewhat by producing a 1997 article from a well known accountancy tabloid all about his “interactive forecasting” software system.

Over coffee, it became clear to both parties that with all the amazing advances in technology during the past 17 years, very little had changed in the world of financial modelling and forecasting. Many of the same points that were made in the 1997 article could just as easily be written today.

Part of the reason for this paralysis is the spreadsheet’s central role in accountants’ lives, and how it has adapted to all the recent professional whims and fads.

Bristow had an explanation : “You can’t think numbers without a sheet of some kind in front of you to look at them. Excel is that sheet.”

* * *

Harold Rosenbaum, Chartered Accountant Extreme

One of our members rightly reported their suspicions about a recent Any Answers post pointing to a YouTube series entitled Harold Rosenbaum Chartered Accountant Extreme.

Rightly pointing out the potential dangers of dubious links, they commented, “This is not something that should be on AccountingWEB.”

But our job on the editorial team is to seek out trouble and report back on the implications for the profession. We delegated a team member to go in and research. We’re glad to report that their PC has not yet gone haywire, and while Harold may not be the sort of thing that should be debated in Any Answers, he’s more than appropriate for a Friday afternoon diary page!

The story lines and production values are just the sort of thing for those of us who grew up with pulp detective novels and Scooby-Do cartoons. We don’t know whether it’s deliberate or not, but every so often the soundtrack and picture judder a bit to rekindle nostalgia for the days of Super8 film projectors.

Feel free to investigate for yourselves and let us know if you enjoyed them as much as we did.

* * *

This week in quotes - whiskey vs whisky, Scotch pies and eggs

The Scotland independence referendum threw up important discussions other than the politics. For example, would members still buy Scotch eggs in the event of a 'yes' vote?

Luckily, given the outcome, this qualm has now been put to bed. 

It also sparked a debate about one of Scotland's other most popular exports, namely Scotch whisky

Alan Davies found a solution in the "quite pleasing" Welsh variety, and Practice Partner agreed. 

"That'll be from the Penderyn Distillery, who make whisky without an 'e'. I like their Dylan Thomas limited edition whisky but I find I spout poetry if I have one over the eight!" they said. 

"Very sensible, drugs and alcohol should not be mixed..." DJKL quipped back. 

The thread was the most well-read and most-commented Any Answers post we've had in recent months. It was interesting to see members' views on the debate, including those on 'e's and whisky (and whiskey).

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Replies (3)

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By fiairlieb1
19th Sep 2014 12:02

"prime minister David Cameron

"prime minister David Cameron may come to regret his moment of weakness in agreeing to the SNP’s demands for the referendum"

Sorry, did you miss the fact that 1,617,989 people voted to become independent? It wasnt weakness, it was bowing to the democratic will - quite a novel idea, I know

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By jones1948
19th Sep 2014 15:02

Whisky and Whiskey

What about the Welsh? There's a compelling argument for calling their version of usquebaugh waetsecy.

 

 

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By User deleted
19th Sep 2014 17:02

Which particular democracy ...

@fiairlieb1 - My maths says 1.6m versus 63m is 2.5% - which in the scheme of the entire UK is hardly a 'democratic' majority

 

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