§ Lord Shore of Stepneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their assessment of the effect of introducing self assessment of income taxes in the financial years 1997–98 and 1998–99; and what is their estimate of the one-for-all increase in tax receipts for these two years. [HL1437]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe introduction of self assessment will have the ongoing effect of making the tax system clearer and more straightforward for taxpayers, clarifying their obligations and helping them to get their tax right first time. The costs of SA to the Inland Revenue in the two years were £100 million in 1997–98 (with savings of £5 million) and are expected to be £63 million in 1998–99 (with savings of £33 million). Once the new system is fully bedded in, SA is expected to reduce the costs of running the tax system by £70 million per annum.