No representation without tax

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A Bill for a new Act of Parliament was tabled in the UK this week. It's called the 'Disqualification from Parliament (Taxation Status) Bill' and says that those electing for the non-domiciled remittance basis of taxation will be disqualified from acting as an MP or Member of the House of Lords in future.

John Whiting of the Chartered Institute of Tax and PWC said of this

One can understand the driving force at work here but there is also an important matter of tax principle. A taxpayer will, under the proposed non-domiciled rules, be given an option over two bases of taxation. Yet someone choosing one route is, seemingly, to be handed an extra penalty. It does seem a bad precedent if making what might be regarded as the wrong tax choice attracts adverse treatment in another area.

Hang on John? Since when was the right not to pay tax 'a penalty'?

He's right; there is a matter of tax principle at stake here. But it seems like he can't spot what it is. The reality is that this law will say there's no right of representation in the UK without taxation. That's OK. That is a principle. What John espouses is not. He's talking about an abuse. That's not the same thing, not the same thing at all.


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