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Finance Bill

No, I do not accept that at all. I repeat my response to the other intervention on the matter: the House remains sovereign on tax matters. Whether there is a tax commission or not, we are the sovereign body. We can accept the commission’s advice or reject it. I believe that simplification will enhance democracy because it will make our scrutiny process much easier and much more effective. In a recent paper for the Centre for Policy Studies, the distinguished tax lawyer David Martin described our tax law as ““obscure and ramshackle””. The Institute of Chartered Accountants described our tax system as ““spiralling out of control””. The complexity of the system is making it increasingly difficult to ensure effective, democratic scrutiny. As I said, every citizen is entitled to understand why they are being taxed, on what they are being taxed and how that tax is calculated. Our amendment will bring a little closer the day when that is true. That is why I commend it to the House.