Clause 7 - Charge to income tax on lump sum
Finance Bill
Public Bill Committees, 21 June 2005, 11:30 am
Philip Hammond (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Runnymede & Weybridge, Conservative)
Not at all; it is absolutely essential that legislation be clear. Where there are references to subsections, it needs to state clearly of what they are subsections. Much of the Bill amends other legislation and, particularly in the schedules, the references are often to clauses, subsections and paragraphs not in this Bill, but in existing Acts of Parliament.
If the principle apparently observed in subsections (6) to (8) were consistently applied, it would be burdensome. Logically, clause 1 would have subsections (1) to (71) setting out what every clause did, and so on. Only clause 72 would be spared the need to set out what future clauses did. I can see no reason for subsections (6) to (8). I have never seen such provisions in a Bill before, as far as I am aware, and I would like to understand why it is necessary to spell out what future clauses will do in an initiating clause.