The Life and Times of ESCs: A Defence?
Stephen Daly, 'The Life and Times of ESCs: A defence?' in 'P. Harris and D. de Cogan (eds), Studies in the History of Tax Law: Volume 8 (Hart 2017)
38 Pages Posted: 15 May 2017 Last revised: 22 May 2018
Date Written: February 23, 2017
Abstract
In 1897, the UK Public Accounts Committee became simultaneously both aware and alarmed at the practice of the then Inland Revenue providing extra-statutory dispensations to taxpayers. Despite criticisms in the interim, it was not until the judgment of Lord Hoffmann in Wilkinson that HMRC began to put the brakes on this practice. Almost 120 years since the Public Accounts Committee’s awakening to the Revenue’s habit and over a decade since Lord Hoffmann’s judgment, it is timely to reflect upon the life and times of ESCs.
The paper will be published in the forthcoming 'Studies in the History of Tax Law: Volume 8' (P. Harris and D. de Cogan (eds), Bloomsbury). Here is an early draft of the paper which can also be found at the website of the Tax History Conference 2016 where it was first presented.
Keywords: Tax History, Extra-statutory concessions, Administrative Discretion
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation