Taxes which collect less than £5bn per annum should be challenged annually, with a view to their repeal or merger with other taxes, says the Institute of Directors (IoD). These taxes include stamp duty on shares (raising £3bn), air passenger duty (£3bn), CGT (£5bn) and IHT (£5bn). Taxes which collect more than £5bn, says the IoD, should be subject to wide-ranging simplification and tax rate reductions.
The IoD argues that if taxes become an inhibitor to growth, public services and investment will suffer in the long term and this ‘will be to the detriment of the entire economy’, calling for radical tax reforms to take preference over ‘piecemeal, overly-complex revisions’ to what the IoD’s head of taxation, Stephen Herring, calls ‘the already monstrous tax code’.
Launching the IoD’s paper, IoD priorities for tax reform, Herring said: ‘The basic principles here are that taxes should be focused purely upon the fiscal revenues collected and their wider economic impact. They should not be confiscatory, punishing or unduly complex. We continue to support the priority given to reducing the UK’s annual fiscal deficit and recognise that this is no easy task. We also support reforms that have improved the UK’s competitive ranking as a business friendly country. However, we have been disappointed with the pace of tax reform under the Coalition, and a more radical agenda for tax reforms is now needed.’
Taxes which collect less than £5bn per annum should be challenged annually, with a view to their repeal or merger with other taxes, says the Institute of Directors (IoD). These taxes include stamp duty on shares (raising £3bn), air passenger duty (£3bn), CGT (£5bn) and IHT (£5bn). Taxes which collect more than £5bn, says the IoD, should be subject to wide-ranging simplification and tax rate reductions.
The IoD argues that if taxes become an inhibitor to growth, public services and investment will suffer in the long term and this ‘will be to the detriment of the entire economy’, calling for radical tax reforms to take preference over ‘piecemeal, overly-complex revisions’ to what the IoD’s head of taxation, Stephen Herring, calls ‘the already monstrous tax code’.
Launching the IoD’s paper, IoD priorities for tax reform, Herring said: ‘The basic principles here are that taxes should be focused purely upon the fiscal revenues collected and their wider economic impact. They should not be confiscatory, punishing or unduly complex. We continue to support the priority given to reducing the UK’s annual fiscal deficit and recognise that this is no easy task. We also support reforms that have improved the UK’s competitive ranking as a business friendly country. However, we have been disappointed with the pace of tax reform under the Coalition, and a more radical agenda for tax reforms is now needed.’
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