TaxWatch is an investigative think tank shining a forensic light on who pays tax, who doesn’t, and why
New weapons, same problems?
Stronger powers against ‘enablers’ – those who design and enable aggressive tax avoidance and evasion – are back on the table once again. But new figures show that existing powers are still not being used.
Broken offshore promises undermine the UK’s tax system
Even after years of attempts at reform, offshore havens still offer secrecy for those determined to hide money and evade tax. In a week when Britain’s Overseas Territories have ignored yet another deadline for functioning ‘beneficial ownership’ registers, new figures on UK tax enforcement stemming from the Pandora Papers show that leaks can’t supplant properly available information about who really owns offshore companies.
The gap in the Tax Gap
Quietly buried in HMRC spreadsheets released today is the news that the UK Tax Gap is consistently much bigger than HMRC previously said. New evidence suggests that the government may be under-estimating by several billion pounds the amount of income hidden offshore, and non-compliance amongst the largest and wealthiest taxpayers.
Starving HMRC will make it harder for Rachel Reeves to meet spending targets: TaxWatch responds to the CSR
Shrinking the £40 billion tax gap and £38 billion of outstanding tax debts is going to be critical for making today’s Spending Review numbers add up. Can HMRC deliver this with a real-term budget cut?