Examination of Witnesses (Questions 55-59)
MR JOHN
WHITING, DR
MARTIN WEALE
AND MR
ROBERT CHOTE
17 MARCH 2008
Q55 Chairman: Welcome to the second session.
Professor Colin Talbot has sent his apologies, he is unwell today.
We have Mr John Whiting, who will introduce himself and his colleagues
for the shorthand writer.
Mr Whiting: John Whiting. I am
from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Mr Chote: Robert Chote of the
Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Dr Weale: Martin Weale, National
Institute for Economic and Social Research.
Q56 Chairman: The Budget has been
described as a bit boring with no shocks. Is that the case or
are there some shocks? Somewhere deep inside the many pages is
there something that should jump out at us?
Mr Whiting: I do not think there
are any shocks beyond the ones we knew were coming, if I can put
it that way, Chairman. Indeed, I might almost say that is a virtue
seeing as we had quite a plethora of tax changes from last year's
Budget and, of course, the Pre-Budget Report. So in many ways
from a tax point of view what we wanted was a consolidation Budget,
a chance to take stock and work out the detail, we did not want
any more major changes. Despite that, I was able to point out
to Robert last Wednesday that I think for the first time ever
my volume of press releases was greater than his volume of Red
Book, which is quite an interesting measure if a fairly arbitrary
one.
Q57 Chairman: Tell us how many press
releases HMRC had?
Mr Whiting: 107.
Q58 Chairman: With an opinion from
American lawyers.
Mr Whiting: Indeed, plus an opinion
from American lawyers.
Q59 Chairman: Which is unique.
Mr Whiting: Which I think is unique.
I am sure you would also be aware, Chairman, that that is before
you get into all the various other documents that accompany the
Budget. There is still a lot of detail and paperwork to get through.
To go back to the nub of your question, no, I do not think there
is a dramatic new bombshell, if you want that term, within this
package.
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