§ Mr. Maddenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to reducing the amount of guidance notes sent to all categories of taxpayers; if he will list the total range of such guides issued as standard practice and the total cost to public funds of such guides; and under what statutory obligations they are issued.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 10th July 1978; Vol. 953, c. 403] gave the following information:
Taxation guidance notes are kept continuously under review. Every effort is made to keep them as simple and short as possible consistent with the complexity 175W of the law and the need to provide sufficient guidance to taxpayers.
Guidance notes issued by the Customs and Excise are in the form of public notices. A list of such notices is contained in Public Notice 1000, copies of which are available in the Library. There are no statutory obligations governing the issue of public notices. It would not be possible to obtain the costs of this element of the Department's printing except at the cost of disproportionate time and effort.
As regards other taxes, including Inland Revenue taxes, I shall supply the detailed information requested by my hon. Friend as soon as possible.