I thank the hon. Lady for informing me of that. I am more than happy to look in more detail at that definition, because I do not have it at my fingertips, but putting it in the Bill would present to unscrupulous employers something that looks like an invitation to use this as a back-door route to avoid the tax that should rightly be paid upon severance. It would be unwise for that to go through, because it would send exactly the opposite signal to what we are trying to achieve with the relevant clauses elsewhere in the Bill, which is to say, “If you play by the rules, fine.” The vast majority of people who receive severance pay have no need to concern themselves and neither do the vast majority of businesses. The only individuals who should be a little distressed by what is going through in the Bill are the very small number of companies that have abused the severance payment structures to avoid paying the tax that is fair. I have little sympathy for those companies. If they play by the rules, we are on their side. If they seek to bend or break the rules, I have no sympathy whatsoever.
Finance Bill
Proceeding contribution from
James Cleverly
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 11 October 2017.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Finance Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
629 c360 
Session
2017-19
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2018-09-20 12:49:04 +0100
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