Tax Policy Associates – the plan for 2023

2022 was fun.

Here’s the plan for 2023, in rough order of priority:

Definitely

• Launching in the next month, an analysis of a startling way in which tax law and HMRC are failing people on low incomes.
• Also in the next month or so: a report into a tax avoidance scheme that’s rife in a well-known business sector, and avoided £450m of tax in the last few years, but has somehow escaped scrutiny.
• More tax policy “blueprints” on corporate and personal tax, setting out the direction in which I think tax policy should be heading.
• More responses to random tax stuff in the news – it’s often hard for people with actual expertise to comment publicly (whether tax professionals or academics), and the result can be that the only public comment comes from people with no technical knowledge of the subject. It’s quite wrong to say that only those with a technical tax background can comment on tax or have an opinion on tax – but it’s just dumb to report on tax with no input from anyone with tax expertise.
• Nadhim Zahawi. We’ve just scratched the surface. More will follow – politicians shouldn’t be able to get away with lying about their tax affairs. Nothing damages public faith in the tax system as much as the perception that “they” don’t pay tax.
• Continuing to providing tax policy assistance and advice to MPs and policymakers in all four of the main UK political parties (it’s invisible to almost everyone, but an important part of our work).

Probably

• How the VAT threshold strangles business growth, and how it can be fixed.
• An academic paper on how a well-known and controversial tax break may in fact be unlawful, and HMRC’s practice ultra vires and potentially susceptible to challenge.
• How Tax KCs facilitate tax avoidance – an alarming case study.
• Further data-driven analyses of past tax changes – perhaps including a follow-up to our tampon tax report.
• Working with others to push for libel law reform, and for the SRA to crack down on solicitors who act unethically.
• Further analysis of CRS data on offshore bank accounts, and hopefully an HMRC estimate of the proportion that’s not reported.
• Additional work on beneficial ownership and corporate transparency.

Maybe

• Other investigations into politicians who’ve avoided tax. It’s not our focus, and every allegation I’ve looked at to date (except one), has had nothing in it (Rees Mogg’s LLP, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak’s hedge fund days, and a handful of others that haven’t been public). But we’re always open to suggestions.
• Big Data analytics on First Tier Tribunal cases over the last 15 years.

Never

• Taking on commercial work – I’m grateful for the offers, but it creates an impossible conflict.
• Accepting donations/funding. All NGO funding comes with conditions, explicit or implicit. I want to continue to go my own way, and annoy everybody some of the time.
• Hiring unpaid interns. I’d love the help, and goodness knows I miss the brilliant associates and trainees I used to work with. But at Clifford Chance I (and many others) pushed to end unpaid internships – they reward the well-connected and those from wealthier families, and are legally questionable. So, whilst awfully convenient, it would be hypocritical for me to take a different stance now.

And

• Thanks to everyone who’s supported our work – active and retired tax lawyers and accountants, academics, journalists, business people from just about every sector, and just interested people with time on their hands. I couldn’t have achieved anything without your insights, expertise and support. Particular thanks to B, M, D, J, L and S.
• Suggestions for anything else we should be looking at are always gratefully received. Just drop us a line.

Have a great Christmas/Channukah and New Year.

Dan

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