Emergency Budget: comment from the tax bar on making tax law

Philip Baker QC

One of the Supplementary Documents published alongside the Budget promises major changes in the making of tax law; when implemented this may prove to be the most significant long-term consequence of the Emergency Budget. The Discussion Document – issued jointly by the Treasury and HMRC – is entitled ‘Tax policy making - a new approach’; however the substance is about tax law making.

The document has an interesting provenance. It derives from the final report of a working party chaired by Lord Howe entitled ‘Making Taxes Simpler’ which was established by George Osborne while shadow chancellor. That working party was set up to implement certain recommendations of the Tax Reform Commission under Lord Forsyth which reported in October 2006 under the title ‘Tax Matters – Reforming the Tax System’. Chapter 9 of the Forsyth Report dealt with Reforming Tax Law and proposed an Office of Tax Simplification...

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