Treasury to assess impact on sector of all new tax policy

Finance | Tania Mason | 21 Mar 2011

Any tax changes announced in Wednesday’s Budget will be accompanied by impact assessments which will, for the first time, include an appraisal of the effect of the changes on civil society organisations.

In a written statement to Parliament last week, David Gauke (pictured), Exchequer Secretary in HM Treasury, said that from Budget 2011 onwards, the government will publish a tax information and impact note for tax policy changes at the point at which the policy design is final or near final. “This could be alongside the Budget, publication of draft legislation or final legislation, as appropriate.”

He went on: “These notes will provide a clear statement of the policy objective, impact on the Exchequer, the economy, individuals, businesses and civil society organisations, as well as any equality and other specific impact.”

They will be produced for all substantive changes in tax and National Insurance policy by primary and secondary legislation.

The tax information and impact notes will be published on the Treasury and HMRC websites.

CFDG, who lobbied hard for the impact assessments to be extended to CSOs, hailed the news as a victory.

A spokeswoman said: “Charities are affected by the majority of changes to the tax code, yet are often on the periphery of the tax policy-making process. CFDG has long said that charities should be a first thought rather than an afterthought when new legislation is created.”

But she warned that the assessment must not be just box-ticking: “A full analysis of the impact a tax change will have on the sector will be essential if this is to make a meaningful positive difference.

"Given the sector’s central role in delivering the Big Society we would like to see this extended and used more widely across other areas of policy making.”

Directory: Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG) | HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.