On the 11th December, 2018 Zac Goldsmith asked Mel Stride about the Loan Charge. Mel Stride made three ‘errors’ in his response:
1. The Loan Charge is not retrospective – This has been thoroughly disproved now by the Lords Economic Affairs Committee and many others
2. Loan Scheme Arrangements have been taken to court many times over the years and proven to be ‘defective’ – This has also been disproved via FOI request. The only ‘win’ for HMRC was regarding DOTAS registration of a scheme that was not even a loan scheme
3. HMRC won the Ranger case – Mel forgot to mention that the win was ‘inconvenient’ as the tax was found to be due on the EmployER.
In any case, if all of this is correct, why does he feel the need to introduce a 20 year retrospective/retroactive law?