Schedule 8 - Insurance and mutual trading companies
Finance Bill
11:00 am
Mr Howard Flight (Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)
I want simply to add that it is interesting that the CBI has specifically said that it feels that the statement of Inland Revenue practice is unsatisfactory because it does not adequately clarify the position, is not a substitute for clear and understandable legislation and is liable to be overwritten by the courts if they are called on in future to interpret the strict wording of the schedule. It says that it is disappointing that in an era in which the tax law rewrite programme is introducing a new approach to tax legislation, Parliament is being asked to approve unclear legislation that will effectively give the Revenue discretion, subject to intervention by the courts, on how to apply the exemption, which it feels is undesirable in principle.