CIOT president stresses simplification

The new Chartered Institute of Taxation president John Preston has called on whichever government is elected on 8 June to be ‘brave on tax simplification’.

In his inaugural speech he noted the previous administration had decided against going ahead with some reforms proposed by the Office of Tax Simplification because they were ‘politically unacceptable’. His personal view was that the government ‘may be underestimating what the population may be prepared to consider if the matter was properly explained to them’.

Referring to the professional conduct in relation to taxation (PCRT)rules Mr Preston suggested that while it would be impractical to expect the UK’s rules to be adopted in other countries consideration could be given to minimum agreed standards of behaviour for tax professionals worldwide. A broad principle such as ‘no tax planning should rely for its effectiveness on a revenue authority having less...