Following the allegations and outcry in recent weeks over tax evasion involving HSBC’s Swiss bank accounts and criticism of HMRC’s activities when the information was handed to them in 2010, shadow chancellor Ed Balls tabled an urgent question on tax avoidance and HSBC in the House of Commons on
Following the allegations and outcry in recent weeks over tax evasion involving HSBC’s Swiss bank accounts and criticism of HMRC’s activities when the information was handed to them in 2010, shadow chancellor Ed Balls tabled an urgent question on tax avoidance and HSBC in the House of Commons on Monday to force the government to answer questions on HSBC, where he accused the government of ‘turning a blind eye to tax evasion’ and suggesting that ‘[Osborne] and the prime minister were negligent in failing to act on the evidence the government received’.
In a fiery reply, chancellor George Osborne laid the blame squarely at the previous Labour government’s door, saying: ‘When we came to office, city bankers were paying lower tax rates than those who cleaned for them, foreigners were not paying capital gains tax, hedge funds were abusing partnership rules and the richest in our society routinely did not pay stamp duty at all. We have put an end to all of that, and we will take more action in the Budget. All we have on the other side are a bunch of arsonists throwing rocks at the firefighters putting out the fire that they started.’
The chancellor confirmed Treasury secretary Danny Alexander’s announcement at the weekend (see below) that the government is considering introducing new penalties against those who actively facilitate tax evasion, and that the Treasury has been tasked ahead of the Budget to find ways to ‘pursue not just the tax evaders, but those providing them with advice’. He said the government is in ‘active discussion’ with the French authorities over permission to pass information from the ‘Lagarde list’ to the Serious Fraud Office and other prosecuting authorities to enable them to investigate the alleged role of banks in cases of evasion. Under the initial agreement with France in 2010, the information could only be used in connection with the tax affairs of individuals. If HMRC and the Director of Public Prosecutions need more resources to carry out their investigations, the Chancellor said, ‘they will get them’.
The other main UK political parties have used the HSBC furore to offer their own ‘tough solutions’: the Liberal Democrats’ Danny Alexander called for a clampdown on corporate tax evasion, saying HMRC’s decision not to prosecute the majority of the list of around 1,100 individuals was ‘seriously flawed’ and unveiled proposals for penalties to be levied on companies that fail to prevent tax evasion.
He told the BBC: ‘We should create a new offence of corporate failure to avoid preventing an economic crime and also that organisations who facilitate or encourage evasion should face the same penalty as the evaders themselves,’ adding that he intended to push through the proposals before May’s general election, and that if not, they would form part of the Liberal Democrats’ election manifesto.
Earlier this month, Ed Miliband announced that if Labour were voted into power, his government would carry out a ‘root and branch’ review of HMRC’s approach to tax evasion and avoidance. He accused the coalition of ‘shrugging its shoulders on tax avoidance’, leading to an estimated £34bn being lost from the public finances, and that HMRC must ‘do a much better job’.
Following the allegations and outcry in recent weeks over tax evasion involving HSBC’s Swiss bank accounts and criticism of HMRC’s activities when the information was handed to them in 2010, shadow chancellor Ed Balls tabled an urgent question on tax avoidance and HSBC in the House of Commons on
Following the allegations and outcry in recent weeks over tax evasion involving HSBC’s Swiss bank accounts and criticism of HMRC’s activities when the information was handed to them in 2010, shadow chancellor Ed Balls tabled an urgent question on tax avoidance and HSBC in the House of Commons on Monday to force the government to answer questions on HSBC, where he accused the government of ‘turning a blind eye to tax evasion’ and suggesting that ‘[Osborne] and the prime minister were negligent in failing to act on the evidence the government received’.
In a fiery reply, chancellor George Osborne laid the blame squarely at the previous Labour government’s door, saying: ‘When we came to office, city bankers were paying lower tax rates than those who cleaned for them, foreigners were not paying capital gains tax, hedge funds were abusing partnership rules and the richest in our society routinely did not pay stamp duty at all. We have put an end to all of that, and we will take more action in the Budget. All we have on the other side are a bunch of arsonists throwing rocks at the firefighters putting out the fire that they started.’
The chancellor confirmed Treasury secretary Danny Alexander’s announcement at the weekend (see below) that the government is considering introducing new penalties against those who actively facilitate tax evasion, and that the Treasury has been tasked ahead of the Budget to find ways to ‘pursue not just the tax evaders, but those providing them with advice’. He said the government is in ‘active discussion’ with the French authorities over permission to pass information from the ‘Lagarde list’ to the Serious Fraud Office and other prosecuting authorities to enable them to investigate the alleged role of banks in cases of evasion. Under the initial agreement with France in 2010, the information could only be used in connection with the tax affairs of individuals. If HMRC and the Director of Public Prosecutions need more resources to carry out their investigations, the Chancellor said, ‘they will get them’.
The other main UK political parties have used the HSBC furore to offer their own ‘tough solutions’: the Liberal Democrats’ Danny Alexander called for a clampdown on corporate tax evasion, saying HMRC’s decision not to prosecute the majority of the list of around 1,100 individuals was ‘seriously flawed’ and unveiled proposals for penalties to be levied on companies that fail to prevent tax evasion.
He told the BBC: ‘We should create a new offence of corporate failure to avoid preventing an economic crime and also that organisations who facilitate or encourage evasion should face the same penalty as the evaders themselves,’ adding that he intended to push through the proposals before May’s general election, and that if not, they would form part of the Liberal Democrats’ election manifesto.
Earlier this month, Ed Miliband announced that if Labour were voted into power, his government would carry out a ‘root and branch’ review of HMRC’s approach to tax evasion and avoidance. He accused the coalition of ‘shrugging its shoulders on tax avoidance’, leading to an estimated £34bn being lost from the public finances, and that HMRC must ‘do a much better job’.
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