Political update: July 2022

In April, the Finance Committee of the Welsh Senedd (Parliament) published their report on a bill which changes how Welsh tax legislation can be amended, citing CIOT 24 times. This included highlighting the Institute’s view that tax changes should be in primary legislation except in exceptional circumstances.

In May, CIOT/ATT Head of External Relations George Crozier attended the launch of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Responsible Tax and Anti-Corruption’s Economic Crime Manifesto. The group have asked for our comments on the measures in the manifesto, which include requiring tax advisers to be signed up to a professional body, and an overhaul of anti-money laundering supervision.

CIOT comments have been cited twice in the House of Lords since the last update. Baroness Kramer (Lib Dem) drew attention to the Institute’s scepticism over the impact Making Tax Digital would have on the tax gap, while Lord Harlech (Conservative) quoted from evidence the Institute provided to an all party group last year, noting that most farmers cannot access R&D tax relief as it is only available to limited companies.

In May, CIOT and LITRG met with Luke Fletcher, tax spokesperson for Plaid Cymru in the Welsh Senedd. After introducing the work of CIOT and LITRG, we discussed a range of issues including employee ownership, tourism tax and Welsh language software