Thursday, 2 April 2015

Tax Research Network call for papers (30 April 2015)

The deadline for abstracts for the 2015 Tax Research Network Conference (9 and 10 September 2015, Hull University Business School) has been extended to 30 April 2015.  Further details are provided here.

Monday, 10 March 2014

Law Society paper on tax governance

The Law Society published an important document in March 2008 entitled Tax: Good Governance and better law making: A manifesto for improving tax law, which is available at page 44/190 of the linked document.

Friday, 19 July 2013

The wartime origins of Irish corporation tax

A short paper that I wrote for the Irish Society of Comparative Law conference in 2012 has just been published here in the Irish Journal of Legal Studies.  It examines the UK corporation tax of 1920 and asks why it was retained in the Irish Free State even after its abolition in the reduced UK.  This is all the more surprising given that the views of UK politicians that
“[e]veryone admits it is not a good tax ... many think that it bears exceptionally heavily on enterprise and industry” (Baldwin)
“[i]t was unloved by its parents, it was reviled by its subsequent guardians, it was condemned by every party, not least by the Labour Party” (Snowden)
were widely shared in Ireland.  The article reaches surprising conclusions rooted in economic nationalism and notes the irony in Ireland being widely criticised for its excessive corporation tax rates of c.5%.

As a footnote, Ernest Blythe seems to have been an interesting character, and was known to my grandmother.

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

O'Donnell Review

The O'Donnell review, Financing Britain's Future: Review of the Revenue Departments, led to the amalgamation of the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise in 2005.  In principle, it is available online, but the links have been disrupted by the move to gov.uk, and I have only been able to find the first chapter, here.  Meanwhile, I have posted the entire document here.


Friday, 24 May 2013

Hartnett Report 2001

The Inland Revenue report Review of Links with Business was issued in 2001 and is known as the "Hartnett Report" after its author.  I had some difficulty finding a copy, but the following link (here) works at the time of posting.  The PDF button goes nowhere but pressing "RTF" retrieves the full report.

Update 24/06/13: a better copy is available here.

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

RN Carter, Advanced Accounts

Accounting textbook from 1915 available online here: RN Carter (ed), Advanced Accounts: A Manual of Advanced Book-keeping and Accountancy for Accountants, Book-keepers and Business Men (New York: EP Dutton, 1915)

Monday, 25 February 2013

Monday, 22 October 2012

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

PD Leake on capital allowances

One of the seminal books on UK capital allowances: PD Leake, Depreciation and wasting assets and their treatment in computing annual profit and loss (London: Isaac Pitman, 1920).  The preface and introduction are particularly interesting.

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Income Tax Acts (1799-1952)

The older UK Income Tax Acts are not that easy to find online, but these links work as at the date of posting.  No joy on 1918 yet.

Income Tax Act 1799
Income Tax Act 1803 (at p. 1012)
Income Tax Act 1842
Income Tax Act 1952