Tax Journal quotes Dominic Lawrance on improvements that could be made to the systems surrounding tax legislation
Ahead of 2024, Tax Journal canvasses the opinions of a range of legal experts for a horizon-scanning piece.
The publication asks Dominic Lawrance, Partner in our private client team and a tax expert, what one change he would make to tax if he had the power to do so. Dominic says in response:
I would like to change the way tax law is made in the UK. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that, at present, HMRC has too much influence over the making of tax law, and that the process is inadequate. Arguments from within HMRC that legislative changes are necessary are not assessed as critically as they should be, an issue that particularly affects legislation on HMRC’s investigatory powers and powers of sanction. Moreover, when new tax law is drawn up, there is no effective supervision.
What we need (although I fully appreciate that this sounds Panglossian) is a statutory minimum period for draft tax legislation to be reviewed and refined before it is presented to Parliament, and an expert, genuinely independent body to do the reviewing and improving.
Read the full article in Tax Journal here.
