This month…
“I HAVE A DREAM”
It may be a bit irreverent to use the famous words from the late great Martin Luther King Junior in his 1963 speech which has been lauded as the greatest speech of the 20th Century, but in those few words he expressed so powerfully the human wish in change for the better.
We all know how crazy our political system has become in recent years. The betting odds, normally a good guide for the eventual result, for what will happen in the December 12 General Election fluctuate almost daily. No one can guess which way things will go.
All the while, in recent years, we seem to be at the Alice in Wonderland HMRC Mad Hatters tea party. The Treasury and HMRC seem hell bent on bringing in badly constructed new IR35 legislation to bolster the 20-year-old original IR35 legislation which itself has been an abject failure. The new legislation threatens a slowdown of the highly successful and long-lasting use by industry of freelance contractors helping UK plc to be a force to be reckoned with across the globe. Who in their right minds would do this at any time, let alone with the challenges of Brexit imminently upon us? As Alice says “curiouser and curiouser”.
With the cancelling of the Budget proposed for 6th November due to the coming election, and assuming it will be held in mid-January 2020 with a much shorter period than expected to debate and pass the Finance Act, could it be possible that the new government will reduce the Finance Act to essential budget issues in order to carry on budgetary business as usual and leave out some of the more disputed and “mad” tax changes and defer this Off-Payroll Tax.
If that happens, do I dare to dream that a new government shorn of the madness of the last few years, will look with economic maturity at removing this baseless attack on the freelance contractor community. As the latest Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, wrote in “Conservative Home” in October 2009, that for business to prosper the need is to “repeal the silly IR35 tax on providers of personal services”. Yes Sajid, you were right then and hopefully your business instincts are not now dulled by being in politics.
Do I think any of the above will happen. I suppose not……. BUT
“I HAVE A DREAM”
Victor Korman
Managing Director
Cogent Accountants