The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), Institute for Government (IfG) and Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) are launching a project to look at how to improve the process around the government’s Budget process and tax policy making.

The aim is to work together to produce a clear set of recommendations for the Treasury, Opposition and stakeholders on how to improve the UK tax policy making process and improve transparency over the decision making process.

The project will report around the time of the 2016 Autumn Statement.

The group is seeking feedback from practitioners and tax experts to contribute to the work, which is looking to shape the tax process from initial consultation stage to final drafting of new tax law. This follows a period of intense consultation and rapid changes to existing tax law which has seen continual expansion of the tax code.

Bill Dodwell, incoming CIOT president and head of tax policy at Deloitte, said: 'The Chartered Institute of Taxation works for a clearer, simpler tax system for all those affected by it – taxpayers, their advisers and the tax authorities.

‘Our experience is that good tax policy comes from an open, consultative process in which all those affected have a voice, and where there is effective scrutiny to ensure policy intentions are translated into statute accurately and without unintended consequences.

‘Our members see in their daily professional lives what happens when bad tax policy is introduced.’

Following a raft of contradictory tax policies introduced in recent Budgets, the existing process appears confused and lacks transparency. As experts in policy-making and Whitehall processes, the IfG will provide an insight into comparative law making across government and best practice.

Jill Rutter, programme director at IfG, said: ‘The Institute for Government has long been concerned about the quality of tax policy-making and budgets.

‘Recent events have underlined that many features of the budget process – for example, advance secrecy, lack of collective decision-making and low levels of scrutiny and evaluation – are not conducive to successful policy-making.’

As one of the few independent bodies analysing the impact of annual Budgets, the IFS will brings its knowledge and analysis of fiscal policy to the discussions.

Paul Johnson, director, IFS, said: ‘The government takes nearly £4 in every £10 earned in the economy in tax. How it does so matters enormously, and so does how it decides on tax policy. We at the IFS tend to look at the tax system that comes out of the policy making sausage machine.

‘I’m delighted that we will be working with IfG and CIOT to look at how we might fix the machine such that it produces better policy in the first place.’

Tax professionals and anyone else with views on how tax policy development in the UK can be improved can read more here and contributions should be emailed to [email protected] by 30 May.

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