Welsh local government bill undermines Senedd scrutiny, says CIOT

The Chartered Institute of Taxation is warning that legislation to reform business rates and council tax in Wales gives too much power to ministers to change how the taxes work in future without full Senedd scrutiny.

In its submission to the Welsh parliament’s call for evidence on the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill the institute expressed concern the granting of extensive powers to ministers to amend important aspects of the taxes such as reliefs and exemptions using secondary legislation. It notes that the Senedd can reject such regulations but unlike bills (primary legislation) they cannot be amended.

Areas that the Bill enables to potentially be changed by regulations in the future include small business rate relief and exemptions such as those for agricultural premises and places of religious worship.

The institute recommended that substantive changes to reliefs should be included in primary legislation...