Slimline Budget can help tax system get fit for purpose, says CIOT

The need to ‘do less and do it better’ was central to the Better Budgets report published in January by the CIOT, the Institute for Government and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

George Crozier, the CIOT's head of external relations and one of the co-authors of the Better Budgets report, said: 'The rate of tax change in recent years has been fast and furious. All those involved in tax policy – inside and outside government – are on a treadmill of constant change. Moving to a single fiscal event provides a real opportunity to get off this treadmill – reducing the strain on the government’s resources and freeing up time for a better, more strategic, more measured approach to tax policy making.

'For example it should release more resource for proactive consultation – aiming to get views in from beyond the "usual suspects"; it should free up more time for post-implementation review of the effectiveness of tax changes; it should enable government to engage consultees at an earlier stage in their deliberations, discussing issues and objectives in the round before options have been narrowed down.

'We hope the slimming down of the Budget will enable HMRC and the Treasury to step off the policy treadmill and spend more time working on the overall health of the tax system.'

Table 1: Tax measures contained in UK Budgets and Autumn Statements since 2010 election

Table 2: Total policy measures (tax and spend): Autumn Statement/Budgets

Table 3: Page length of ’red books’