Are we too stubborn to move forward?
I read your article (Comment, 16 November, page 2) by Sir Geoffrey Howe, ex-chancellor, with great interest.
I have been involved with UK taxes for the past 25 years. I find that we all enjoy the annual ritual of the red book (Budget) and the amusement that we get from the very complexity of tax structure and tax law, the semantics, the nuances, the case law, etc. etc.
We have become creatures of habit. We must now reflect upon this behaviour for the past 25 years, and realise that partly because of this complexity and bureaucracy, we have lagged behind in productivity compared to USA (40%), Germany (10%) and France (20%).
Our standard of living is also below these countries. It will require many ruthless reformers to break this culture.
I believe the annual Finance Act should be changed to every three years.
So should the Budget and the Spending Review.
We shall than have less of a boom and bust scenario.
Nagin Khajuria, FCCA, London
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