Forcing MPs to endure hours of complex debate every year in order to renew income tax law is no way to run the UK’s taxes, The Birmingham Post’s new expert tax blogger has said.
Carol Barrie, tax partner at RSM Bentley Jennison in Birmingham and head of the Property & Construction Group for the UK, criticised the current system where Parliament must reimpose income tax every year in the Finance Bill.
The intensive 12-hour debate that was needed to pass the 2008 Finance Bill indicated the inefficiency of the process, she said. Ms Barrie called for a public debate on reforming the system.
She said: “Hasn’t the time come to breathe a bit of common sense into the system and deal with complex technical changes separately from the matters that have to be passed by Parliament by 5 August, so that we all go on paying our taxes?
“This would allow more consultation with tax professionals; better drafting and more informed and considered debate by Parliament.”
* Read Carol Barrie’s blog post in full and comment here.
