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 The Tax Law Review Committee was set up by the IFS in autumn 1994 to ask whether the tax system was working as intended, efficiently and without imposing unnecessary burdens. Its role is to keep under review the state and operation of tax law in the UK, which it does by selecting particular topics for study. It does not seek to question Government policy as such but to look at whether existing arrangements achieve the policy in a satisfactory and efficient way. The Committee's members represent a broad cross-section of informed opinion from industry and commerce, the judiciary, academia, the professions and political and public life, including the full span of the political spectrum. The President is Lord Howe of Aberavon CH QC who, as Sir Geoffrey Howe, served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons in Mrs Thatcher's Governments between 1979 and 1990. The original Chairman was Graham Aaronson QC. Since 2002, the Committee has been chaired by Sir Alan Budd, D. Phil. Sir Alan was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. From 1991 to 1997 he was Chief Economic Adviser to H. M. Treasury and Head of the Government Economic Service. Search
This report addresses whether current UK methods of dealing with avoidance are adequate and satisfactory and what, if any, other measures might be taken. Should current judicial anti-avoidance doctrines be allowed to develop or should Parliament take the initiative with a general anti-avoidance rule?
Judith Freedman and Emma Chamberlain
The schedular system of income tax in the UK frequently comes under attack, not least in relation to the distinctions it draws between the tax treatment of the employed and the self-employed.
In this report the Tax Law Review Committee advocates a number of proposals for the thorough overhaul of the tax appeals system. The UK does not have a single system of tax appeals but a number of systems, the details of which differ according to the tax and there is a maze of provisions that can baffle taxpayers and practitioners alike which can affect access to the system and the cost of tax appeals.
The main conclusions of this report are that tax legislation should be written in plain English, that the Government should publish explanatory memoranda with all Finance Bills, that the project already announced by the Government, to rewrite existing tax legislation in plain English should go ahead as long as it produces worthwhile improvements in understanding, and that in the longer term, primary tax legislation should be drafted in terms of general principles.
Recommendations for the way Parliament handles Tax Simplification Bills are made in this report by a working party of the Tax Law Review Committee.
John Avery Jones CBE
This is the year of simplification of tax legislation and I should like to add my thoughts to the debate.
Chris Davidson
This note looks at the work the Tax Law Review Committee (TLRC) has done since its inauguration in October 1994.
This report of the 1993 IFS Residential Conference considers the administrative issues that face the tax system in the 1990s. Speakers dealt with the implications of the move to self-assessment, the adoption of a rulings procedure, tax appeals and general anti-avoidance rules. International aspects of tax administration and compliance were also considered.
There has been much debate about legislative complexity and many people believe the situation is now so bad that something must be done - we cannot go on as we are. This report examines the scope for purposive legislation and clearer language and asks whether we need to rewrite our tax laws from scratch.
Malcolm Gammie
Browse publications & research
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 Started: 01 September 2005
Started: 17 November 2004
Started: 17 November 2004
Started: 17 November 2004
Started: 01 January 2004
 The Mirrlees Review shows the importance IFS attaches to high quality empirical evidence in the design of tax and benefit system.
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