Tories reopen tax row with new pledge

Thursday 3rd July 2008, 11:48AM BST.

Tories reopen tax row with new pledge The Conservative party has proposed an overhaul of UK tax law in direct response to the 10p tax rate row.

Changes to tax law with a technical aspect should be announced no later than the pre-budget report in the autumn, the party said on Thursday.

George Osborne, shadow chancellor, said: “With these changes there will be no more stealth taxes. Future governments will no longer be able to bury the bad news in the small print.”

The recommendations feature in the Howe Group report into tax simplification, led by former Conservative chancellor Geoffrey Howe.

Announcing changes in advance would save any future Tory treasury from making the same mistakes as the current one, the report says.

Other proposals include an independent Office of Tax Simplification to analyse current arrangements and propose further simplifications which could be implemented.

The review also calls for a new taxation select committee.

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