Mission
The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is an initiative of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. Our mission is to:
'Target for help and information those least able in the community to afford to pay for advice and make a real difference to their understanding of the systems of taxation and related benefits whilst working to make them more equitable and accessible for their needs.'
We do this by:
- Encouraging government agencies, primarily HMRC, to produce the very best information for those on low incomes. Where they fail to do so, we try and compensate with this website and other similar initiatives;
- Researching particular tax areas that may be giving cause for concern and writing reports recommending change;
- Examining Finance Bills and similar legislation for provisions which may adversely affect the constituencies we try and represent and then propose alternatives;
- Monitoring operational developments within HMRC and related government departments which may impact upon low-income constituencies;
- Encouraging people who are in those constituencies to feed to us their day-to-day experiences of the tax and related benefit system;
- Testing by 'mystery shopping' whether the services provided by HMRC and related government departments are as promised;
- Sitting on numerous tax and benefit consultative groups and putting forward the perspective of those who cannot afford to pay for advice;
- Promoting the work of tax charities and encouraging professional tax advisers to give their time pro bono to such charities. (LITRG created and trialled the Tax Help for Older People service which was subsequently transferred into a tax charity); and
- Helping other charities which may not have in-depth tax expertise to fathom the intricacies of taxation.
At the beginning of 1998 LITRG called for volunteers to help fulfil this mission and was gratified by the response. The current members of LITRG, including the staff, are set out below.
Barbara Abraham
Technical Officer for LITRG, former tax partner and Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers
John Andrews
Past President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and founder of LITRG
Alan Barton
Volunteer adviser at Rickmansworth CAB; formerly Social Policy Officer at Citizens Advice
Leonard Beighton
Former Deputy Chairman, Board of Inland Revenue and Director/trustee of Tax Help
Jane Booth
HMRC secondee working on the Revenuebenefits website project
Colin Bruce
Staff member on Direct Payments project
Catherine Clayton
Chartered Tax Adviser formerly in practice
Larry Darby
Former tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers
Nigel Eastaway
Partner in BDO and author
Andrew Flint
Tax writer with LexisNexis Butterworths
Eile Gibson
Solicitor specialising in corporate tax issues, including SDLT, VAT, PAYE and employment income
Martin Hodgson
Former regional director of the Inland Revenue, currently Chair of Tax Help for Older People
Liz Hughes
HMRC secondee
Francesca Lagerberg
Former Chair of the Tax Faculty of the ICAEW and the national head of tax for Grant Thornton
Norman Kirby
Former Principal Inspector of Taxes and tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers
Bianca Marsden
Former Head of Technical at the CIOT
Patrick Millard
Former Chief Executive and Director of Tax Help for Older People, continuing to work with Tax Help on educational projects and LITRG on pensioner issues
Jane Moore
Technical Manager at the Tax Faculty of the ICAEW
William Norris
Retired solicitor and barrister; past Chairman of Tax Help for Older People
Philip Ridgway
Barrister, Temple Tax Chambers
Graham Sherburn
Chief Executive of Tax Help for Older People
Kelly Sizer
Technical Officer for LITRG, Chartered Tax Adviser formerly in practice
Claire Thackaberry
Technical Officer for LITRG and Chartered Tax Adviser in practice
Anthony Thomas (Chairman)
Past President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and member of the CFE's General Assembly; current Chairman of LITRG
Victoria Todd
Welfare Rights Technical Officer for LITRG and ATT Taxation Technician
Joanne Walker
Technical Officer for LITRG, Chartered Tax Adviser formerly in practice
Sally West
Strategy Adviser - leading on policy work around income and poverty policy at Age UK
John Whiting
Tax Policy Director at CIOT and Policy Director of the Office of Tax Simplification
Robin Williamson
Technical Director of LITRG and former tax editor
