Prisoners: No taxation without representation!

Prisoners: No taxation without representation!

According to Hansard...

Prisoners: Pay

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he will bring the Prisoners Earnings Act 1996 and associated secondary legislation into force. [187102]

Mr. Hanson: The Act is complicated and prescriptive and it is calculated that in its present form it would cost substantially more to administer than it would raise in revenue. In view of this the Government do not intend to make an order to bring the Act into force.

According to Wikipedia...

The Conservative Party stated their intention to implement the Act in their manifesto for the 2010 general election, and secured an agreement with the Liberal Democrats to make it part of their joint coalition agreement.

According to the MoJ...

Implement the Prisoners’Earnings Act 1996 to allow prison governors to deduct from prisoners’earnings and transfer the money into the Victims’Fund.

Start
Jun 2010

End
Jun 2011.

Comment: It is difficult to see how the ConDems can justify implementing a measure which would cost a lot more to administer than it would raise in revenue! Then, there is the issue of prisoners being denied their human right to vote by the government and yet the government is seeking to tax prisoners! In my view, this is a hairbrained scheme in the first place and was not thought out properly before the knee-jerk legislation was passed! Secondly, the Act is susceptible to a Human Rights Act 1998 challenge as being incompatible with the European Convention. Finally, I think that the principle of 'no taxation without representation' should apply.