This week's opinion

In ‘Not so funny’ on the proposed changes to entrepreneurs’ relief Kevin Slevin shows that the draft legislation is flawed – indeed in many situations it will be unworkable. In Kevin’s view this is largely attributable to the fact that the draftsman has not started with a blank sheet of paper and produced clauses that are designed specifically to achieve the government’s policy. Instead the draftsman cut and pasted clauses from the corporate tax legislation which although superficially similar are intended to do something quite different and simply do not work in this context.

This is not the only symptom of hasty drafting in the Bill. I find it astonishing that something as important as the rules for the new allowances on buildings and structures are not included in primary legislation but will be introduced by statutory instrument.

The early date of the Budget...