Part of 11. 9. Debate: Stage 3 of the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Bill – in the Senedd at 4:02 pm on 28 March 2017.
I’m just blinded by Mark Reckless’s explanation there for moving his amendments—happy to support that.
Okay, I wish to move my amendment 32, which is pursuant to Mark Reckless’s amendments 35 and 37. As Mark Reckless explained, we believe that this amendment—his amendment—will simplify cross-border land transactions. For those of you who didn’t sit on the Finance Committee during the process of Stage 2 we went through, and I bet you’re heaving a sigh of relief now that you didn’t, there were many issues that arose from cross-border issues, which we believe needed looking at and needed simplification. The Cabinet Secretary did put many good reasons forward against why our amendments at that point should be pursued, but nonetheless, we believe that simplicity in dealing with the cross-border issues is very important. This is a completely new area for the Welsh Government—a new area, indeed, for practitioners across the border in England as well—so it’s important that we get this legislation right.
My amendment 32 reflects the Cabinet Secretary’s points to the Finance Committee at Stage 2, when he noted that digital maps were available from the Land Registry and offered an opportunity for the committee to see the information the Welsh Government has had from the Land Registry. We believe that this will—following on from Mark Reckless’s points—provide a more specific apportionment for cross-border properties, which would fairly divide the tax revenue between the WRA and the HMRC. And that’s what we believe these amendments in this group are about. It’s about providing simplicity, it’s about providing certainty—we’re looking for a smooth transition from the UK stamp duty tax to our land transaction tax, and these amendments are aimed at doing that.
If I can just briefly mention amendment 29—we will also be supporting that, as we believe it helps the WRA to apply best practice in relation to land partly in Wales and partly in England.