§ In last year's Budget I announced a project to rewrite Inland Revenue tax legislation in plain English. That is a tall order. The project is as ambitious as translating the whole of "War and Peace" into lucid Swahili. In fact, it is more ambitious. I am told that "War and Peace" is only 1,500 pages long. Inland Revenue tax law is 6,000 pages long and was not written by a Tolstoy. We have consulted extensively on how the project should be carried out, and I am glad to say that there is wide consensus. The Inland Revenue will publish the plans and arrangements shortly after the Budget.
The aim is to prepare a series of rewrite Bills, the first of them to be ready for enactment in the 1997–98 Session. My noble and learned Friend Lord Howe has produced a thorough and helpful report on how Parliament might handle those Bills. We endorse his broad proposals, and invite the Procedure Committee to consider how the House is going to handle the Bills in a sensible fashion. I can announce that my noble and learned Friend Lord Howe has agreed to chair the steering committee that will oversee the rewrite project.
The project will bring the benefits of clarity and certainty to businesses and ordinary taxpayers. It has been widely welcomed and deserves the continuing support that it has enjoyed in all parts of the House.