Speeches by Murray.

“Part of the programme ahead of the April 2026 introduction of the £50,000 threshold is to focus on what support businesses need to get ready for it. That will take consideration of some businesses and some individual taxpayers doing it without much difficulty and others requiring more support, help or guidance to make …”

“No. This is anecdotal, but what I felt they were less keen on is us tearing up the system and starting something totally different. They would prefer to see step‑by‑step change that they were involved with, and that is really the way that we are approaching it.”

“The valuation of properties is really the foundation of how business rates are calculated. You have to have some kind of valuation there. The process of revaluation and any changes to that depend on, again, investment in the IT infrastructure and the systems of the Valuation Office Agency. We have to invest there as we…”

“Certainly, if you look at what we are debating right now in the House of Commons Chamber, the principle behind that is for it to wash its face. The cuts for retail, hospitality and leisure are paid for by the provision to increase the multipliers on properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or above. That is entirel…”

“Let us be clear what the intended consequence is. The intended consequence is to support high streets, and small independent businesses are a crucial part of the high street, but so are anchor stores, which can sometimes be part of a larger chain. A successful high street has a mix of both. I am sure all of us in our c…”

“No, but, if you look at the way that it has been structured, the threshold for having the RHL discount is £500,000, so that will cover the vast majority of premises on high streets, even pretty big ones. There is then the small business rate below £51,000, which is obviously much, much lower, but that really is for the…”

“It is worth me being very direct and saying there are no plans to reform council tax, but there is a challenge process for individuals. If someone is a neighbour and they think they are in the wrong band versus a neighbour or someone on the same street with a similar property, there are existing processes where people …”

“To be honest, because we do not have any plans for it, it is not really on my radar.”

“That is a good point. As we know, HMRC is a statutory supervisor within the regulations. It supervises around 36,000 businesses. It has quite a significant role to play there. One of the questions for me is making sure that HMRC continues to regularly check the resourcing levels for its role in anti-money laundering to…”

“HMRC, it is probably worth saying, has a tremendous amount of data. In conversations I have with other Government Departments, there is a great desire to use HMRC data for other goals. There are protocols about what data you can share. There are legal gateways about what basis you can share it on, but I very strongly s…”

“This review might have been before my time.”

“That is an interesting point. Certainly, in terms of any new systems or new ways we are interacting with taxpayers, part of the process is to digitalise what exists already. Anything new would be digital by default. That data collection would be expected to be at the best possible level. We need to think about what dat…”

“The crucial bit of data in that decision was about claims. When I am discussing this in other debates in the Commons, there is a point to be made about the difference between the value of farms and the value of claims. That is where some of the confusion has arisen in terms of people thinking there is data that says di…”

“The crucial data was available around the claims, the distribution of claims in different value bands and understanding that.”

“It starts in April 2026, so that will be set out ahead of then. I very much expect it to be digital.”

“It is not online. There will be some questions to answer. We can assume that it will be a digitally-led process for registration, but I can update the Committee in due course about what we are considering in terms of minimising the burden, while also making sure it is an effective process.”

“Thanks very much, Chair, for having me today. If I set the context of when I was appointed, under Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, we had some very clear priorities for HMRC, which I am sure I will come to later in the session today. I was determined to drive those changes through the organisation at HMRC. I know that diff…”

“It is a different job. The role that Jayne-Anne Gadhia plays is a fantastic benefit to HMRC. She brings a huge amount of experience, counsel and advice for me. Her staying on as the lead NED has been really important.”

“I wanted to reform the board around our priorities as an incoming Administration.”

“I wanted to ensure that the priorities that I have on behalf of the Government, Ministers and the new Administration were transmitted as directly as possible through to HMRC to deliver that.”