Deregulation

HC Deb 01 April 1993 vol 222 cc485-6

6. Mr. Roger Evans

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a further statement about the measures announced in the Budget involving deregulation.

Mr. Lamont

The Budget proposals will make an important contribution to the Government's deregulation initiative. The changes announced have been warmly welcomed in the business community—particularly the proposals on the statutory audit. In the longer term, the burden on the self-employed will be substantially eased by my proposals for simplified self-assessment.

Mr. Evans

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his answer. Does he understand the importance to small business men in particular of the introduction of self-assessment as a system of deregulation and in relieving the burden?

Mr. Lamont

The self-assessment proposals were warmly welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses and the Forum of Private Business. There are strong arguments for self-assessment. It is a simpler, better system for the ordinary citizen and it is a good thing that the people of this country should know the tax consequences of Government spending.

Mr. Cryer

Will not the self-employed who disappeared owing £114 million in tax in 1991–92 be delighted with self-assessment, because it is wide open to corruption? The Chancellor claims to reduce the burdens of business, but is not every extension of value added tax an imposition on small businesses, which have to act as tax-gatherers without receiving any money for doing so? Last year, the Government produced more statutory instruments— which are in the main burdensome regulations, affecting the community at large, including small businesses—than ever before in the history of Parliament. Does not that demonstrate that the Government are all words and no action?

Mr. Lamont

I am slightly surprised about the hon. Gentleman's remarks about VAT, bearing in mind his first comments. The more that taxation is shifted towards indirect tax, the easier it is to deal with the black economy and to collect tax in that direction. The hon. Gentleman's comments are difficult to understand. I am sure that everybody, including small business organisations, recognises the hon. Gentleman's first point, when he seemed to characterise small business men as a lot of tax cheats. That is not our view.