It is a fact that for the UK tax system to operate efficiently and effectively there must be mutual trust between taxpayers, the tax profession and the fiscal authority. There must also be confidence that the law is applied equally to all and not in an oppressive manner. The rule of law is the foundation of everything we do in tax and these proposals are at risk of damaging the crucial trust that should exist between citizen and state. The two Lord Bingham principles which should not be ignored are:1) Ministers and public officers at all levels must exercise the powers conferred upon them in good faith, fairly, for the purposes for which the powers were conferred without exceeding the limit of such powers and not unreasonably. 2) Questions of legal right and liability should ordinarily be resolved by the application of the law and not by the exercise of some discretion of some official. The truth of the matter is HMRC is so under resourced that it is incapable of doing the job without recourse to provisions which are dressed up as temporary measures. We all know these will likely have wider application within a short time scale as staff numbers further reduce, Such sweeping HMRC Powers are fundamentally wrong without essential checks and balances being in place and capable of challenge. What is really needed is a well staffed Revenue authority and not some easy legislative cop out for inadequate under funding.
My answers
Rule of Law!
It is a fact that for the UK tax system to operate efficiently and effectively there must be mutual trust between taxpayers, the tax profession and the fiscal authority. There must also be confidence that the law is applied equally to all and not in an oppressive manner. The rule of law is the foundation of everything we do in tax and these proposals are at risk of damaging the crucial trust that should exist between citizen and state. The two Lord Bingham principles which should not be ignored are:1) Ministers and public officers at all levels must exercise the powers conferred upon them in good faith, fairly, for the purposes for which the powers were conferred without exceeding the limit of such powers and not unreasonably. 2) Questions of legal right and liability should ordinarily be resolved by the application of the law and not by the exercise of some discretion of some official. The truth of the matter is HMRC is so under resourced that it is incapable of doing the job without recourse to provisions which are dressed up as temporary measures. We all know these will likely have wider application within a short time scale as staff numbers further reduce, Such sweeping HMRC Powers are fundamentally wrong without essential checks and balances being in place and capable of challenge. What is really needed is a well staffed Revenue authority and not some easy legislative cop out for inadequate under funding.