Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their present projection of the United Kingdom's gross and net contributions to the European Union budget for the whole of the seven year budget agreement 2014–20.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility is responsible for forecasting UK gross and net contributions to the EU Budget. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts can be found in Table 2.19 of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook supplementary and fiscal tables – December 2014.[1]
[1] This table can be found at the following link:
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-december-2014/
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Deighton on 26 November (WS 37) concerning the meeting of ECOFIN on 7 November, whether they plan to continue their opposition to the proposed Financial Transaction Tax; and whether they will indicate that they will not facilitate the collection of the tax in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The UK is not participating in the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) proposed to be adopted by 11 EU member states.
The Government strongly objects to certain extraterritorial aspects of the European Commission’s proposal, which in our view breach EU Treaty requirements.
While any eventual FTT is likely to be significantly narrower in scope than the current proposal the Chancellor has been clear that the government will not hesitate to renew its legal action against the FTT if our concerns are not addressed
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Deighton on 26 November (WS 37) concerning the meeting of ECOFIN on 7 November, whether they will give details of the proposed directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of VAT; and what will be the likely effect of the amendment on the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Details of the proposed Directive are set out in the Explanatory Memorandum 15337/13: “Standard VAT Return” deposited in the Houses of Parliament by the XST in November 2013. The UK’s current VAT return and associated procedures are supported by businesses. As the Office for Tax Simplification said in its recent report –Review of the Competitiveness of the UK Tax Administration – “The UK’s VAT return always wins praise for simplicity…”. The Government is committed to retaining that simplicity and continues to press for that in the EU. Negotiations on the proposed Directive are still continuing.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Deighton on 26 November (WS 37) concerning the meeting of ECOFIN on 7 November, what will be the effect of the proposed amendment to Directive 2011/96/EU; and whether it transfers further powers over taxation to the European Union.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The amendment to Article 1 of the Parent Subsidiaries Directive introduces an anti-abuse measure, which requires Member States to withdraw the benefits of the Directive with respect to tax arrangements, where gaining a tax advantage through exploiting the Directive is a main purpose.
UK officials have worked successfully to incorporate UK changes into the text. These ensure that the rule is proportionate, is in line with OECD recommendations on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, and does not delegate further powers to the Commission.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will clarify what constitutes tax evasion and tax avoidance.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Tax evasion is illegal activity, where registered individuals or businesses deliberately omit, conceal or misrepresent information so they can reduce their tax liabilities.
Tax avoidance is exploiting the tax rules to gain a tax advantage that Parliament never intended. It often involves contrived, artificial transactions that serve little or no commercial purpose other than to produce a tax advantage. It involves operating within the letter, but not the spirit of the law.
For further information on this I refer the Noble Lord to Table 1.6 in the ‘Measuring Tax Gaps 2014’ publication available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 17 November (HL2610), what are the gross contributions during the same periods.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Data for the years 2009-10 to 2013-14 can be found in Table C.1 of HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses of July 2014, attached[1]:
The 2014-15 forecast can be found in Table 2.19 of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and fiscal outlook supplementary and fiscal tables – December 2014, attached[2]:
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the European Commission President Mr Jean-Claude Juncker's statement on 12 November that he supports greater tax harmonisation in the European Union.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Protecting the UK’s tax sovereignty in the EU, by ensuring that all tax decisions by the Member States are agreed by unanimity, is a red line for the UK. This ensures that EU tax policy takes into account Member States’ individual economic circumstances, and that the UK can veto proposals that would, for example, damage economic growth.
That said, we are keen to support those proposals that take forward the UK’s G8 legacy, to tackle cross-border tax avoidance and evasion. These include aligning EU law with the new global rules agreed at the G20-OECD. For example, the OECD’s Global Standard will be implemented within the EU through the amended Directive for Administrative Cooperation.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the European Union annual budget is involved in administering the Single Market.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The adopted EU Annual Budget for 2014 allocates €63.5 million to ‘Administrative expenditure of the ‘Internal Market and Services’ policy area’. This amounts to around 0.05% of the total adopted EU Annual Budget for 2014.
This information is available in Chapter 12 of the EU Annual Budget 2014.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, when announcing new expenditure on grants to national and international organisations and programmes, they will state whether such expenditure is met through savings elsewhere or by borrowing; and, if the latter, whether they will state the source of the borrowing.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The total level of government spending is set in advance through the Spending Review process. Spending within this envelope is adjusted at fiscal events. Spending is primarily funded through tax receipts, with any shortfall met by borrowing.
The majority of borrowing is financed through the issuance of gilts Treasury bills. Additionally, the public can lend money to the Government through National Savings and Investments (NS&I). The Treasury does not hold details on the holders of this debt.
The government does not differentiate between these funding channels when meeting its obligations.