(Except clauses 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 16, 20 and 92) - Clause 5
Finance Bill
4:35 pm
Stephen Timms (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; East Ham, Labour)
Welcome back to the Chair, Mr. Atkinson. May I mention in passing the letter that I have just written to members of the Committee? It encloses regulations for schedule 3 and some explanations regarding order-making powers, and I hope hon. Members will have the opportunity to look at it.
In response to the points made by the hon. Member for Hammersmith and Fulham before the break, in relation to clause 5 and schedule 1, I hope to reassure him on some of the perfectly understandable concerns that he raised. First, he asked why we are taking the action now—or how had the matter arisen. During the drafting of the Income Tax Act 2007, lawyers made the point that granting personal allowances solely on the fact that somebody is a Commonwealth citizen would be discrimination on the basis of nationality and therefore should not be continued. They advised that the law needed to be changed as soon as was practical and we have been looking at various options, taking a bit of time. This is the first opportunity that we have had since then to put the decision right.