Income Shifting, Shifted.

Well, we had the budget yesterday. Amongst the points raised was an inferred acknowledgement by Alistair Darling that the new tax wouldn’t work - yet. “Income Shifting” legalisation has been shifted back to April 2009. Does an unpopular tax put back sound familiar? Read more

Income Shifting: A response from Gerald Howarth MP

Early Day Motion (EDM) 714 is gathering support amongst members of parliament across the entire political spectrum and I am pleased to report that today my local MP has signed too. A total of 159 members of parliament have now signed this motion; Conservative: 85, Labour 19, Liberal Democrats: 49, Plaid Cymru: 1, SNP: 4 and SD&LP: 1.

 

As promised in my letter to Gerald Howarth MP, here is his response in full:

From: HOWARTH, Gerald [mailto:geraldhowarth@parliament.uk]
Sent: 27 February 2008 10:56
To: Mike Wilson
Cc: READY, Caroline
Subject: RE: Early Day Motion 714, “Income Shifting”

Dear Mr Wilson

Thanks for your email on this important matter.  I have not yet signed the EDM but plan to do so today as I have researched the issue after it was recently raised with me by another constituent.

We are determined to make it easier to do business in the UK and to ensure that local and central government recognises that small businesses are the engine room of our economy.  Government should encourage more people to aspire to be their own bosses and should support them in that aspiration.

David Cameron has said many times that a Conservative Government would recognise marriage in the tax system as families matter more than anything else within our society.  By way of contrast, Labour’s income shifting proposals will place a penalty on the recognition of marriage in the tax system.  On that basis alone, I am happy to sign EDM 714.

The proposals are entirely consistent with Gordon Brown’s hostility to small businesses, coming as it does on top of the 80% increase in capital gains tax which a number of businessmen have told me has been the last straw for them.  His stewardship of the economy, for so long commended by commentators, has now been exposed for what it is – a reckless disregard for prudence.  We have consistently warned that since he departed from the original Tory spending plans he was putting economic prosperity at risk, but that did not suit the commentators’ books at the time.

Thanks for making your views known to me and I urge your fellow businessmen to protest to their own MP.  Those who are my constituents can also write to me as the more letters / emails I receive on the subject the better placed I am to protest to the Government.

Best wishes

Gerald Howarth MP

Member of Parliament for Aldershot & Shadow Defence Minister

House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

Tel:  020 7219 5650    Fax:  020 7219 1198

www.geraldhowarth.com

HM Revenue & Customs - What not to do if you suspect or discover fraud

Well, according to the published NIM39140: They’ll have to shoot you if they tell you!

It seems HM Revenue & Customs have published a page in their online manual for National Insurance Numbers containing guidance which they have then proceeded to self-censor using an undisclosed exemption in the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

So if you need advice on possible National Insurance Number fraud and wish to ask HM Revenue & Customs they will tell you that they can’t tell you because of their self-censorship. I wonder what information could be so sensitive on this public information tax guidance manual that needed to be censored in such an explicit way? We can find out of course using the “Internet Archive WayBack Machine” although at the time of writing the server holding the original page from January 2nd and 10th 2007 was down. Why not click the link above and check out the original page for yourself? ;P

“This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000″:

 

As a Dutch friend of mine puts it, “Your government creates weird content dude!”.

Expect more common sense tax guidance from the same Government that is planning to burden us with a new family tax later this year.

Source:Â
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/nimmanual/NIM39140.htm

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