Danny Alexander Danny Alexander has announced that the government will invest nearly £1 billion in an effort to reduce the billions lost in tax avoidance and evasion at the top end of the market.
The attack on tax dodgers is expected to raise an extra £7bn each year by 2014-15.
Danny, in a move which I am 100% behind, placed tax evaders in the same category as benefit cheats. And, I imagine, in an attempt to show that the Liberals are getting some concessions out of the coalition, he insisted that, in the forthcoming spending review, there would be moves to ensure the government could be ruthless with the wealthy that chose whether or not to pay tax.
The money will be used to set up a criminal deterrent system against tax evasion, a new dedicated team of investigators to crackdown on offshore evasion, as well as cyber crime teams and online specialists. Why didn’t we already have all these things Labour?
He is also planning to increase investment in detection technology to prevent alcohol and tobacco smuggling, which cost the Treasury dearly.
He said: "There are some people who seem to believe that not paying their fair share of tax is a lifestyle choice that is socially acceptable. It is not. Like the benefit cheat, their actions take resources from those who need them most. Tax avoidance and evasion are unacceptable in the best of times but in today's circumstances it is morally indefensible."
Nick Clegg, on the Andrew Marr show had a go at Labour for not doing more to clamp down on tax loopholes, which is something that Gordon Brown promised in opposition that he would do in government.
Interestingly Clegg said that it was unfair that the better-off could afford experts to help them avoid paying tax when others suffered “pay and pension misery” as the public spending cuts bite. So there you have it. We are in for misery, and that was straight from the Deputy Prime Minister’s mouth.
I remember that only last year Nick said that he went into politics to become Prime Minister. I wonder how he feels about bringing “misery” to the poor within 6 months of achieving office.
The Public and Commercial Services Union estimated last week that around £120 billion of taxes goes uncollected every year. If their figures are to be believed, then it seems that if people would only pay what they owe, we wouldn’t have to suffer any of this “misery”.
And although the move is to be applauded, the difference between the £7 billion that Danny’s plans may bring in and the estimated £120 billion that the rich steal from us every year is still...well..... it’s still £113 billion!
Doubtless the overall population of the UK will reduce over the next couple of years as the super-rich take themselves off to live in a place with a more favorable tax regime, or where the unfavorable tax regime is administered as inefficiently as ours has been over the past 30 years.
The attack on tax dodgers is expected to raise an extra £7bn each year by 2014-15.
Danny, in a move which I am 100% behind, placed tax evaders in the same category as benefit cheats. And, I imagine, in an attempt to show that the Liberals are getting some concessions out of the coalition, he insisted that, in the forthcoming spending review, there would be moves to ensure the government could be ruthless with the wealthy that chose whether or not to pay tax.
The money will be used to set up a criminal deterrent system against tax evasion, a new dedicated team of investigators to crackdown on offshore evasion, as well as cyber crime teams and online specialists. Why didn’t we already have all these things Labour?
He is also planning to increase investment in detection technology to prevent alcohol and tobacco smuggling, which cost the Treasury dearly.
He said: "There are some people who seem to believe that not paying their fair share of tax is a lifestyle choice that is socially acceptable. It is not. Like the benefit cheat, their actions take resources from those who need them most. Tax avoidance and evasion are unacceptable in the best of times but in today's circumstances it is morally indefensible."
Nick Clegg, on the Andrew Marr show had a go at Labour for not doing more to clamp down on tax loopholes, which is something that Gordon Brown promised in opposition that he would do in government.
Interestingly Clegg said that it was unfair that the better-off could afford experts to help them avoid paying tax when others suffered “pay and pension misery” as the public spending cuts bite. So there you have it. We are in for misery, and that was straight from the Deputy Prime Minister’s mouth.
I remember that only last year Nick said that he went into politics to become Prime Minister. I wonder how he feels about bringing “misery” to the poor within 6 months of achieving office.
The Public and Commercial Services Union estimated last week that around £120 billion of taxes goes uncollected every year. If their figures are to be believed, then it seems that if people would only pay what they owe, we wouldn’t have to suffer any of this “misery”.
And although the move is to be applauded, the difference between the £7 billion that Danny’s plans may bring in and the estimated £120 billion that the rich steal from us every year is still...well..... it’s still £113 billion!
Doubtless the overall population of the UK will reduce over the next couple of years as the super-rich take themselves off to live in a place with a more favorable tax regime, or where the unfavorable tax regime is administered as inefficiently as ours has been over the past 30 years.
