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I'm sure
John Whiting has a sound grasp of the necessary steps required top achieve tax simplification. However those in power - of whatever political persuasion - do not and will never have either the will or the means to change anything. The urge to 'tinker' for a few rounds of applause at budget time is too strong
"Make me repent my sins lord....but not just yet"
5/4/16
John you do know that April fool is on the 1st April.
If I thought for one moment my input would be at least given some thought I would jump at the chance. However we all know nobody will listen, never mind act upon, to what is reality and what is needed.
Respect
John you do know that April fool is on the 1st April.
If I thought for one moment my input would be at least given some thought I would jump at the chance. However we all know nobody will listen, never mind act upon, to what is reality and what is needed.
I have the utmost respect for the guys at OTS but johnjenkins is spot on.
1st April or 5th April?
John you do know that April fool is on the 1st April.
If I thought for one moment my input would be at least given some thought I would jump at the chance. However we all know nobody will listen, never mind act upon, to what is reality and what is needed.
John, April fools is only on 1st April for corporations, for the unincorporated it is 5th April ;-)
This leads to something I have discussed with the legendary John Whiting: why are we the only major economy with a tax year that doesn't coincide with a calendar month? I think Iran is one other country with an odd date: but that is because they use a different calendar (a bit like HMRC really). John said that changing the date would be a simplification but there isn't the political will, which raises the question as to why have the OTS if its recommendations aren't carried out.
How do we make them act?
It will take mass civil disobedience before they take any of us seriously.
As we are professionals that is not a route we will take.
Many politicians have business experience so why are they not angry enough to sort things out? Is it because they are now ' above that sort of thing?' Or would it just damage their future careers by stirring things up.
I had hoped John Whiting would have made much more progress by now but he seems stuck in the mire with the rest of them.
The solutions are so damn obvious that they could come from someone on £5200 never mind £52000!
OTS?
I thought they gave up years ago.
They were (are?) fighting a tsunami of unnecessary tax legislation.
Tax Simplification is an oxymoron.
Average salary
According to ICAEW average salary of an ACA is £100k.
So if you want a really good one to suggest amendments to countrywide policy on tax lets pay half of this...
If you give me £75m for the project to be delivered in 6 months, I will give you a comprehensive overview and reccomendations on how you can simplify the system and maintain the tax intake that will work for both the government and majority of tax payers and make the system simple and stable
I dont need that much, but unless HMRC pay that much then they wont listen to what I have to say. By the way I will give you half of it back in tax 45% tax 2% nic... so it will really only cost you half this number....
Cynical old me
The remit is too narrow.
“The economic case for a land value tax is simple, and almost undeniable. Why, then, do we not have one already? Why, indeed, is the possibility of such a tax barely part of the mainstream political debate, with proponents considered marginal and unconventional? Mirrlees Review, Tax by Design, Chapter 16
http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/mirrlees
review/design/ch16.pdf
However, although it is advocating the adoption of an LVT to anyone that has read Henry George, the first page contains a gross error. It says,
"..... The house is also a valuable asset, whose value rises and fluctuates like those of stocks and shares."
The house doesn't fluctuate in value any more than any other depreciating asset does, it depreciates slowly maybe, but it depreciates, like any other durable asset. No, what fluctuates in value is the land it sits on, whose location value, can soar and crash, though is mostly directed upward as most of the gain from economic growth, not to mention financial bubbles, and inequality, flow into the value of land.
My other criticism of Mirlees and the IFS is that they see LVT as only a replacement for NNDR and Council Tax. It is much more than that and should become the central tax in the economy. That land rents are capable of being the principle source of public revenue is evidenced by their role as the source of the speculation that brought us to where we are now (I’m referring to the 2008 crash and others before it, going back a few hundred years) and their continued role as the main store of value, hiding place and means of transmission of privilege from one generation to another of the wealthy.
This OTS is a band-aid at best, it will achieve little that lasts or that matters much if all it does is turn the clock back, let’s be optimistic and say to the early 80’s (I only mean in terms of the state of the tax system, after the mistakes of the 70’s Labour Governments but before the Tories started on the road to today's 21,000 page Tolleys). If they do that it will be 2008 again soon enough.
@Kevin
The demise or should I say futility of the OTS was the object of my post. From what I can gather HMRC treat 31st March - 5th April as one except for RTI.
Mind you when it comes to dealing with HMRC everyday seems like a fools day.