released
Differences in the way the tax system treats
the self-employed, owner-managers and
employees are costly, inefficient and unfair
Over the last 8 years 39% of the growth in the
workforce has come from the self-employed
and owner managers. They pay a lot less tax
than employees earning the same amount,
leading the OBR to worry that tax revenues
will be £3.5 billion less in 2021–22, relative to
a world in which the small company population
and employment grew at the same rate. The
different tax treatments also create incentives
for people to change legal form to avoid tax
and create inequities between people earning
the same amount for doing similar work. It is
both desirable and practicable to reduce these
differences.
The new apprenticeship levy will raise nearly
£3 billion a year, but government spending on
apprenticeships in England is only expected to
increase by £640 million between 2016–17
and 2019–20
A combination of targets to ensure 600,000
apprenticeship starts each year, and a zero or
near zero cost to employers, risks poor value
for public money. Additional targets for every
public sector employer with more than 250
staff are also likely to lead to costly and
inefficient behaviour.
David Davis states
UK Government has
not done Brexit
impact assessments
for different
economic sectors
Wednesday 6th December 2017
David Davis made
this startling
admission while
being interviewed
by the Brexit Select
Committee who
were demanding
the assessments
were released by
the Government.
Mr Davis claimed in
public that there is “no such systematic
impact assessment”. The Brexit Secretary
also said no formal impact assessment had
been undertaken into the effect of leaving
the EU customs union before the Cabinet
took the decision to withdraw.
On a Whole of Government Accounts
Labour went on to force a
measure, the accounting deficit fell only half as
vote in the House of
much as the traditional National Accounts
measure in the five years to 2014–15
Commons on the issue, with
In a detailed analysis of WGA, ICAEW set out
the outcome requiring the
the importance of taking a wider view of
government finances than the traditional
Government to release them,
National Accounts. Recent reductions in the
with officials later releasing
deficit were offset by increases in liabilities
associated with public service pensions. The
850 pages of analysis.
WGA also illustrate the importance of taking
account of other liabilities such as those for
If you wish to read them - you can find
clinical negligence and nuclear
them here (Published August 2016)
decommissioning.
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk
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