Abolition of the Office of Tax Simplification: what next?

On 23 September 2022 the then chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced in his ‘mini-budget’ that the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) would be abolished. Done away with. Fugazi. Some did not oppose the idea outright. Some expressed concern and called for a policy re-think.

The Treasury and HMRC Mr Kwarteng said would focus on simplifying the tax code. On taking over the chancellorship from Mr Kwarteng in October 2022 Jeremy Hunt decided not to overturn his predecessor’s decision. Quite the reverse.

In a letter dated 2 March 2023 Harriett Baldwin chair of the House of Commons’ Treasury Select Committee urged Mr  Hunt to ‘think twice before forging ahead with a potentially unnecessary closure’ to which he replied on 20 March that the OTS ‘was not always able to weigh up the competing legitimate objectives and priorities for tax policy’ and...