Interesting to see the outrage at how the govt has gone about deciding the health and social care levy package which suggests people don't understand how tax policy gets made in the UK govt
In a way this was exceptional, because it looks as though this may have been a three way decision, involving the Health Secretary as well... normally any tax decision is a Chancellor-PM bilateral at best
Cabinet not consulted in advance? well at least this time they knew it was under discussion and could have made representations... for a normal Budget they are presented with the fait accompli on the morning when all the docs are printed
No real public discussion? this was much less of a rabbit than many tax decisions (Hammond on NICs, Osborne on pensions, Brown on 10p tax rate) and indeed the govt seems to have done some last minute modification to head off some critiques.
Rushed through parliament with minimal scrutiny? sorry everyone, that is par for the course on Finance Bills.... and some tax changes take immediate effect.
Is this a good way to make policy? it suits HMT and No.10 but of course its not. @instituteforgov @TheIFS @CIOTNews pointed out the need to make tax policy better in this report from 2017 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/b…
and then later looked at how to have a sensible approach to tax reform (rather than just hoping you can continue to trade off the public misunderstanding of NICs) instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/o…
so if you are outraged at the way in which MPs are being "bounced", apply that outrage to tax policy making generally not just this egregious example.. ENDS
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