The UK’s overcomplicated tax system is an obstacle to growth that creates “compliance burdens, confusion and disincentives to work or grow a business”, MPs have warned.
In a new report, the Treasury committee has criticised the government’s decision to close the Office for Tax Simplification, a Treasury-based advisory unit that identifies areas where complexities in the tax system for both businesses and individual taxpayers might be reduced.
Members of the committee have tabled an amendment to the Finance Bill, due to be debated in parliament next week, which seeks to prevent the abolition of the unit.
The move, announced during Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget last year, risks signalling that simplification of the system “is not a priority for the government”, the committee said.
