Schedule 24 - Creative artists: relief for fluctuating profits
Finance Bill
Public Bill Committees, 3 May 2001, 9:30 am
Mr John Burnett (Torridge & West Devon, Liberal Democrat)
Absolutely. I believe that the proposal had support from the then Liberal party as well as from the Conservative and Labour parties. Unfortunately, it had been complicated—not, I suspect, at the behest of this House, although it obviously got through.
My plea is for simplicity. Inland Revenue press release BM 12 refers to matching this relief to that for farmers, so it is not entirely irrelevant to consider what has happened to farming over the years. Let us have a simpler system.
I would like to drop a hint to Treasury Ministers. Not many farmers have made a profit over the past five years, so the relief for them is not exactly substantial, especially in the light of that collapse of farm incomes and profit. I hope that Treasury Ministers will consider a one-off right to average over the past six years for agriculture in its present parlous condition, given the huge burdens being suffered.