Tories' new take on tax simplification
A report by a working group headed up by ex-chancellor Lord Howe is recommending that the next conservative government should make some radical changes to the way that new tax legislation is drawn up and scrutinised in order to simplify the UK’s tax code.
It suggests the establishment an Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to examine the existing tax code and make proposals for simplification.
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entropy
I thought the definition of a closed system was one where energy cannot get in or out - the tax system, having external human intervention, is not then a closed system and decreases of entropy will still be possible.
There may still be hope !
The Staff
I just hope that this new Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), will draw its staff from the current offices of HMRC, etc, and not be staffed by newly employed people? The last thing we need is more people on the Government payroll!!!
Are you listening, John W ...
Yes, just think of the many regulations they could scrap if they just came out and said, "We think HS * consultants are tax-dodgers and will be taxed more highly; right, the rest of you ..."
* apply the 2001 "HAL->IBM" transformation
A certain irony
I can't help making the observation that it appears that order to simplify tax law it seems that the only way around it is to ensure that the process of creating the law itself needs to become more complicated.
It seems like complete madness, but then again, given the present mess why would anyone ever trust any chancellor again?
Canna change the laws of
physicspolitics ...But as any fule kno, the entropy of a closed system will always increase, hence it is impossible to reduce the complexity of the tax system.
Case in point: just look at the increase in disorder resulting from "abolishing" the 10% band under the proclamation of simplification ...
Simon (post above): erm, did you miss the sense of irony inherent in my posting ?! It seems a law of "politics" or "government" that entropy / complexity of regulations increases monotonically ... any "simplification" (c.f. 10%) is purely illusory