Will forcing all MPs to reveal their tax and income details restore confidence in our political class

By
Matthew Elliott

09:53 EST, 12 April 2012

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09:56 EST, 12 April 2012

It goes without saying that politicians shouldn’t be dodging their taxes. Yet in the light of the ongoing spat between Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone over that very question of whether each has paid his fair share to the taxman, increasing numbers of voters and even politicians themselves are saying that the tax affairs of candidates for high office should be laid open to public scrutiny.

But before we start demanding to know every detail about all the financial affairs of those who set our taxes, perhaps we should take a step back and consider the impact of such a move.

Spat: The London mayoral contest has so far revolved around accusations of tax avoidance

Spat: The London mayoral contest has so far revolved around accusations of tax avoidance

The only details that would be of interest to the public are likely to be those belonging to anyone of political significance, such as cabinet ministers or London mayoral candidates, or those wealthy enough to be of public interest.

Most politicians’ tax returns will be, dare I say it, deadly boring, but forcing them to publish these highly personal details – most likely pre-dating their political careers in most cases – is without question highly intrusive and an invasion of privacy.

If some politicians – such as Ken Livingstone, for example – seek to channel their income into a private company that effectively allows them to avoid paying national insurance and to instead pay tax on their income at a lower rate, that is a symptom of a broken tax system.

But like any doctor worth their salt, rather than seeking to address the symptom, we should be looking at the cause – the fact that we have such a highly complicated tax system resplendent with all these loopholes in the first place.

Because if our tax system worked properly, we would not have reached the stage where people feel unable to trust politicians to treat their own tax affairs in the same way that they expect us to treat our own.

In a few weeks’ time the 2020 Tax Commission will report back with final recommendations for what a radically different, simpler tax system should look like. This will be the culmination of over a year’s work undertaken by the TaxPayers’ Alliance in a joint collaboration with the Institute of Directors.

We need wholesale reform and simplification of the tax code to restore public confidence and legitimacy. The alternative is to keep the current broken system, in which public trust is so low that no-one now seems to believe whether anyone is paying their fair share any more.

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I have no confidence in any of the political class.All political logos must be covered up and their literature must be delivered in plain envelopes with no logo.They are unattractive because of their unwanted meddling.

I pretty much agree with the writer on this one. There is also the danger that, we will get diverted from the most lucrative targets, which in my opinion is Global Corporations and international companies.

Clegg seems to think his EU pension does not count as he is reported as saying his only income is from the British taxpayers.

Neither desirable nor necessary; and – if implemented – likely to lead to misunderstanding, embarrassment and ridicule. In short: it’s none of our business!

Getting teachers and nurses to reveal the terms of their golden plated pensions might restore some confidence in the peoples condemnation of them.

It will be nigh impossible to restore trust in our M.P.s because no matter what they publish there will still be sections that they dont want us to know about like they did when they published their expenses there were many parts of these publications blacked out now theres honesty for you and what was the other excuse it was We have not broke any rules and even those that were found out and shamed into paying back what they should not have claimed in the first place avoided charges would a person who robbed the Royal Mail avoid prosecution if he paid it back no,and the rest who got caught didnt resign they waited to be voted out so they could collect their golden handshake there were just a few sacraficial lambs charged and jailed for short terms to make it look as though they had all come clean.
I don,t think.

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