Member

As the Minister must know, the Treasury loves thinking up new ways of increasing revenue and plucking the goose. However, with this, we are getting pretty close now to the position where the goose is showing severe signs of illness and fatigue. Of course, the noble Lord is right about simplification, but it is not right to argue that my noble friend’s amendments are complicating the tax system. On the same basis, the Government’s own proposal to increase the employment allowance, it could be argued, will increase the complexity of the tax system. If you want simplification, lower the rate and do not have an employment allowance; I would agree entirely with that.