I'm sometimes amazed at some of the accusations that have been levelled against me for for simply asking that people pay the right amount of tax, at the right time in the right place. The accusation by Nichola Ross Martin of AccountingWEB that I was an extremist was one of the more absurd, and does perhaps say a great deal about the current state of the accountancy profession, and how out of touch with its social responsibility it is.

It's therefore cheering on occasion to find some people believe in what I and those I work with are doing. This is an encouraging example:

Early Day Motion
EDM 1251

TUC REPORT ON THE UK TAX GAP
20.03.2008

Hopkins, Kelvin

That this House welcomes the TUC Report, The Missing Billions - The UK Tax Gap; congratulates its author Richard Murphy, Director of Tax Research LLP, on a brilliant analysis of how tax losses to the Treasury and thus to the public purse amount to £33 billion each year; notes that this figure comprises £13 billion from tax avoidance by individuals, £12 billion from tax avoidance by the 700 largest corporations and £8 billion from tax planning by individuals earning more than £100,000 per annum; believes that this vast lost revenue should be collected in future years and used, among other things, to raise the state pension, increase child benefit and pay for free long-term care; and strongly supports the report's conclusion that action can be taken to address the problem and that what is required to achieve this is the necessary political will.