A taxpayers' charter

Following the announcement earlier this year that consideration would be given to the introduction of a new charter, the CIOT has issued its policy paper in which the relevant issues are rehearsed and a proposed charter of rights (and obligations) is offered for discussion. The paper can be downloaded here.

The institute stops short of recommending the charter be put on the statute book, with the grounds being that the charter, comprising expressions of broad principle, would be incapable of evolving. Whilst this may, indeed, be correct in principle, the same concerns were expressed a decade ago about the Human Rights Act and, yet, albeit with a bit of a kerfuffle, the HRA found its way into primary legislation as a living document.

Many would say that the previous charter, withdrawn quietly in 1999, was viewed as a worthy declaratory statement but that, in practice, no one took it seriously. We fail to envisage how a new charter will have any different effect unless it is enacted into the primary legislation as a code of purposive law falling to be interpreted, when needed, by the courts.