Loan Charge
Debate between Ross Thomson and Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Ross Thomson
I will make a little more progress, but I will take some more interventions.
I was talking about the APPG’s report. Of the 1,768 responses received by the APPG, nearly a third of people have received no information whatsoever from HMRC about the loan charge. That flies directly in the face of HMRC’s repeated claims that people were given three years’ notice of the impending changes to legislation. A similar number of respondents also believe that they have no possible means of settling their case with HMRC. The Government are leaving them to face bankruptcy—a fate facing more than half those affected. I receive new stories from constituents every day detailing the pain that they and their families are enduring with the threat of the loan charge hanging over them.
Ross Thomson
I will happily give way to my hon. Friend, and I will then take an intervention from my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Dr Offord).
Joseph Johnson
I echo my hon. Friend’s words about the Minister, who has always been assiduous and diligent in all his dealings with me on this matter. I congratulate my hon. Friend on his work in leading the APPG inquiry, but does he agree that the time has come for HMRC to acknowledge that we must now have an independent inquiry led by an experienced tax judge?
Ross Thomson
I wholeheartedly agree. That is what today’s motion calls for, because it is the best way of giving our constituents certainty.