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The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has welcomed its new president, Vincent Oratore, who has pledged to push for an improvement to tax laws.
‘The way tax law is developed and implemented in the UK is deeply flawed,’ said Mr Oratore, who has taken the reform of tax legislation as the theme for his 12 months in office.
‘There is not enough expert scrutiny, and there is a shortage of parliamentary time for considering the effect that changes to the tax system will have before they are made law,’ he added.
‘This year’s pre-election Finance Bill, which was rushed through with just three hours of debate in the House of Commons, is a particularly glaring example, but even the usual process often results in tax law that lacks clarity or has unintended consequences.’
Mr Oratore, a tax partner in Ernst & Young’s financial services group, said he will campaign for improvements to the process of developing tax law during his time as the CIOT’s figurehead – and he announced he will be publishing a paper on this subject shortly, as well as engaging with politicians inside and outside government ‘to build the widest possible support for reform’.
Mr Oratore yesterday succeeded Andrew Hubbard, whose final duty as president was to launch a new CIOT branch that will bring together chartered tax advisers (CTAs) within the civil service. It will be based in HMRC, the country’s eighth-largest employer of CTAs.
‘The number of tax advisers working in government is often overlooked,’ said Mr Hubbard.
‘CTAs within HMRC have particular requirements – on training, for example – that are not being met by our existing branch network. This new branch will fill that gap.’
