Finance Bill

I want to make a few brief remarks about philosophy, to put it at its most general. Most of my first degree is in sociology, and one thing that I learned during my studies is that people are able to hold contradictory positions. So, for example, it is all the rage for politicians from all parts of the House to talk about decentralisation and local control. We see it most markedly with the national health service. People say, "Let local doctors make decisions, with the local distribution of resources to where health needs are locally determined to be greatest." In the next breath, however, they say, "Oh! It's a national health service and we don't want a postcode lottery." We saw it graphically 12 months ago when the Conservative party's position was that the NHS should not be run from Whitehall and there should be local control. In the very same speech, however, its spokesperson called for a national moratorium on all hospital closures. Both positions may be desirable, but they are contradictory. We have seen a certain contradictory nature tonight, and I probed it during my first intervention on the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Gauke). On the one hand, the argument runs that we have a tax system that is indeed complex, includes subtleties and allows a measure of discretion; and then in the new clause, we have a proposal for an office of tax simplification, which, were it to proceed not only to be an office but to have a remit for tax simplification, would undoubtedly lead us along the spectrum towards a much more rough and ready system of taxation administration, of decision making on the taxes that should be paid, and so on. That would be rough justice. If that is what the House and the Conservative party want, however, that is an honourable and coherent position. The difficulty is when the position becomes contradictory and people start running away from its inevitable trajectory. We have seen it graphically tonight from the hon. Gentleman. The group of amendments before us includes amendment 36, which would set up very small companies' relief and mean greater complexity within the tax system. The hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Browne) will shortly tell us why the measure is desirable, but let us leave that aside and consider the philosophy. We have very small companies' relief in one amendment and tax simplification as the highlight of another. When I probed the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire, he did not make it very clear which way his party would like to go on the very small companies' relief proposal—a proposal of complexity.