Clause 79 - Double taxation relief
Finance Bill
10:30 am
Mr Oliver Letwin (West Dorset, Conservative)
I welcome you, Dr. Clark, to what is likely to be the last day on which the Committee sits. I must say on a personal level what a great relief that is. I do not want to trouble the Committee unduly on the clause, but I must raise one important matter. Before I do so, however, there has been some doubt about the calculation of the mixer cap.
I have read correspondence about the mixer cap between the Chartered Institute of Taxation and the Inland Revenue, which has largely laid our doubts to rest. Will the Paymaster General clarify, for the record, how the mixer cap is calculated when some part of tax is disclaimed? On the assumption that the Inland Revenue's interpretation of the current drafting is rational and in accordance with its letter to the Chartered Institute of Taxation, I shall rest easy on that point.
Although the construct is a vast improvement, it remains rather elaborate. I see the Paymaster General nodding. I am a huge optimist, which is useful when entering a general election period. My optimism leads me to believe that it will in future be possible to rewrite schedule 26. It would be wrong to complain about the drafting of clause 79, which is itself polluted and only one line long.