scholarly journals Simplicity in Legislative Drafting and Rewriting Tax Legislation

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivor Richardson
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Tax Legislation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Law Commission

The search for simplicity in legislative drafting affects all legislatures. It is also central to the work of the New Zealand Law Commission and of governments in other comparable jurisdictions. Rather than exploring a range of statutes in various jurisdictions, this article focuses on income tax. It does so for two reasons. The first is that income tax has been crucial to the funding of government in common law jurisdictions and to achieving a legislative balance between simplicity and other criteria of an acceptable tax system. The second is that we can draw on three recent projects to rewrite income tax legislation – in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Income Tax as Affecting Life Assurance Offices

1946 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-78
Author(s):  
A. H. Shrewsbury
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Sickness Insurance ◽  
Life Assurance ◽  
Tax Legislation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Insurance Business ◽  
National Defence

‘If there be one point free from obscurity in the Act of 1842 it is this, that the Legislature intended all traders, whether in groceries, annuities or other articles of commerce, to be assessed upon the same footing.’ Lord Watson in The Gresham Life Assurance Society υ. Styles.The main object is to discuss principles and therefore many points of detail will be omitted, however intrinsically interesting they may be. Satisfactory consideration of principles entails reference to all classes of business which involve an actuarial valuation (viz. life assurance and annuity business, sinking fund business and permanent sickness insurance business). Reference will be made to the National Defence Contribution and the Excess Profits Tax, which are based upon income-tax legislation. The subject in mind is the relation of such taxation to insurance business and funds of the classes mentioned, as distinct from other aspects of income tax which an insurance office encounters, and it will be considered solely from the point of view of an office established in the United Kingdom which transacts business only in the United Kingdom. In view of the paper by Messrs S. J. Rowland and F. H. Wales on ‘The Taxation of the Annuity Fund’ (March 1937, J.I.A. Vol. LXVIII), only brief reference will be made to annuity business, and it will be assumed that it is unnecessary, in describing taxation processes, to include explanations or qualifying phrases on account of annuity business.

scholarly journals How Progressive is the U.S. Federal Tax System? A Historical and International Perspective

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Piketty ◽  
Emmanuel Saez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Tax Progressivity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
The U.S

This paper provides estimates of federal tax rates by income groups in the United States since 1960, with special emphasis on very top income groups. We include individual and corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, and estate and gift taxes. The progressivity of the U.S. federal tax system at the top of the income distribution has declined dramatically since the 1960s. This dramatic drop in progressivity is due primarily to a drop in corporate taxes and in estate and gift taxes combined with a sharp change in the composition of top incomes away from capital income and toward labor income. The sharp drop in statutory top marginal individual income tax rates has contributed only moderately to the decline in tax progressivity. International comparisons confirm that is it critical to take into account other taxes than the individual income tax to properly assess the extent of overall tax progressivity, both for time trends and for cross-country comparisons. The pattern for the United Kingdom is similar to the U.S. pattern. France had less progressive taxes than the United States or the United Kingdom in 1970 but has experienced an increase in tax progressivity and has now a more progressive tax system than the United States or the United Kingdom.

scholarly journals PASSPORTS, THE RIGHT TO TRAVEL, AND NATIONAL SECURITY IN THE COMMONWEALTH

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-395
Author(s):  
Paul F. Scott
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
National Security ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Statutory Basis

AbstractThis article, on the basis of a consideration of the development of the law relating to the use of passports as a tool of national security in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, challenges the common law conception of passports, arguing that passports effectively confer rights and so, consequentially, that the refusal or withdrawal of a passport represents a denial of rights. From this conclusion a number of points flow. Though these consequences are most acute for the United Kingdom and Canada, in which passports remain regulated by, and are issued under, prerogative powers, there are also a number of points of significance for Australia and New Zealand, where passports have a statutory basis.

The Need for a Constitution in the United Kingdom

1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-285
Author(s):  
Wilberforce
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Flexible Instrument ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right

I was not surprised when, from several alternative subjects, you chose, as the title of my Lecture, the need for a Constitution in Britain. Those of us without a written constitution are indeed, a select club—New Zealand, Israel, the United Kingdom.I will start with a quotation from Lord Salmon. In a recent lecture, he said: In this country [U.K.] we have an unwritten constitution. I have always regarded this as a blessing and never agreed with the theoretical objections to it. It is superbly flexible and above all it has stood the test of time. It works—and works admirably. But I am beginning to wonder whether it might not be wise to evolve, not an elaborate written constitution but perhaps the equivalent of a modern Bill of Rights. A statute which should lay down our basic freedoms, provide for their preservation and enact that it could not be repealed save by, say, a 75% majority of both Houses of Parliament.One can recognize in this passage the views of an eminent common lawyer, believing in the strength and potentialities of the common law as a flexible instrument, in, of course, the right hands: of one who believes deeply in human freedom, and who is concerned about the threat to it: who desires an explicit definition of the basic liberties and who believes that these can be protected by a sufficiently strong, entrenched, legal system. In this he undoubtedly reflects the views of many people, probably of the majority of ordinary men.

scholarly journals The scope of rights of appeal (not recourse) from arbitration awards

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benjamin Suter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Law Courts ◽  
Model Law ◽  
The Right

<p>This paper examines the scope of rights of appeal from arbitration awards in New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.  In countries that have drafted their legislation after the UNCITRAL Model Law appeals are often excluded and only recourse based on very narrow grounds is available. While many countries are more permissive with regards to appeals than the Model Law in that they allow the parties to opt for more expansive review, none of the examined jurisdictions give the parties the right to opt for appeals on questions of law and fact.  In several cases parties have tried to expand the rights of appeal by agreement. Such agreements are deemed invalid in all jurisdictions. When examining whether the invalid clause renders the entire arbitration agreement invalid, courts in common law jurisdictions have applied the doctrine of severance in some variations. Civil law courts usually examine whether the parties would have concluded the contract without the invalid clause (“but for”-test).  This paper suggests that many of these tests are not suitable for arbitration agreements where the parties do not exchange considerations but rather promise one another exactly the same. The preferable approach is to combine the “but for”-test with a test that assesses if severance alters the nature of the agreement.</p>

scholarly journals Human Rights in Hong Kong

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Robin Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
The Republic

In this address to the UNDR commemorative seminar in April 1998 Lord Cooke speaks of human rights, his current judicial roles and the prospects for a common law of the world. Lord Cooke discusses the importance of human rights law in both substance and implementation. The author reports on the process of implementing constitutional law and human rights in New Zealand, Samoa, the Republic of Fiji, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong (‘.hk’)

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Xue
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trademark Law ◽  
The United Kingdom

The current trademark law is the Trademarks Ordinance (TMO, Chapter 559) and the Trademarks Rules (Chapter 559A). The TMO is modeled on the trademark laws of the countries of the European Union, in particular, the United Kingdom Trademarks Act 1994. The relevant United Kingdom cases as well as those of other common law countries (such as Australia, New Zealand), although not binding, provide guidance on the interpretation of Hong Kong trademark law. The TMO grants exclusive rights to the owners of registered trademarks.

scholarly journals The scope of rights of appeal (not recourse) from arbitration awards

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benjamin Suter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Law Courts ◽  
Model Law ◽  
The Right

<p>This paper examines the scope of rights of appeal from arbitration awards in New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.  In countries that have drafted their legislation after the UNCITRAL Model Law appeals are often excluded and only recourse based on very narrow grounds is available. While many countries are more permissive with regards to appeals than the Model Law in that they allow the parties to opt for more expansive review, none of the examined jurisdictions give the parties the right to opt for appeals on questions of law and fact.  In several cases parties have tried to expand the rights of appeal by agreement. Such agreements are deemed invalid in all jurisdictions. When examining whether the invalid clause renders the entire arbitration agreement invalid, courts in common law jurisdictions have applied the doctrine of severance in some variations. Civil law courts usually examine whether the parties would have concluded the contract without the invalid clause (“but for”-test).  This paper suggests that many of these tests are not suitable for arbitration agreements where the parties do not exchange considerations but rather promise one another exactly the same. The preferable approach is to combine the “but for”-test with a test that assesses if severance alters the nature of the agreement.</p>

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