New Clause 20: Road Safety
New Clause 20— Authority may be required to carry on commercial activities through a taxable body
‘(1) The Greater London Authority Act 1999 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 34 insert—
“34A Restriction on exercise of certain powers except through a taxable body
(1) The Authority may carry on specified activities for a commercial purpose only if it does so—
(a) through a company that is a subsidiary of the Authority, or
(b) in pursuance of an authorisation under section 38(1), through—
(i) a body that is specified in section 38(2) and is within the charge to corporation tax, or
(ii) a company that is a subsidiary of a body specified in section 38(2).
(2) Subsection (3) applies if—
(a) the Authority carries on a specified activity for a commercial purpose otherwise than as permitted by subsection (1), and
(b) the activity is actually carried on by a body (whether the Authority or another) that, disregarding this section, is in respect of the carrying-on of the activity exempt from corporation tax and income tax.
(3) The body mentioned in subsection (2)(b) is to be treated in respect of the carrying-on of the activity as not being a local authority for the purposes of—
(a) section 984 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 (exemption of local authorities from corporation tax),
(b) section 838 of the Income Tax Act 2007 (exemption of local authorities from income tax), and
(c) section 271 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (exemption of local authorities from capital gains tax).
(4) In this section—
“company” means—
(a) a company within the meaning given by section 1(1) of the Companies Act 2006, or(b) a society registered or deemed to be registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies and Credit Unions Act 1965 or the Industrial and Provident Societies Act (Northern Ireland) 1969, and
“specified activity” means an activity specified in an order made by the Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury.”
(3) In section 420(8) (orders subject to annulment) after the entry for section 25 insert—
“section 34A;”.’.—(Robert Neill.)