As the Guardian notes this morning:
Until last summer the country's top tax official, Dave Hartnett is taking up a job with tax consultancy Deloitte. Does this matter? Yes, it does; both in its specifics, and the light it casts on the relationship between our governing elite and corporate interests.
Quite right. And they're right to criticise Hartnett too. But the most telling bit in what they have to say is this:
The contrast between his soft landing and the brutal treatment administered to Osita Mba, the whistleblower who exposed the Goldmans deal, is stark and troubling.
Quite so. Make life easy for big business at HMRC and get handsomely rewarded. Seek to uphold the law, tell the truth and keep parliament informed of what is really going on and get hounded.
And that happened on Hartnett's watch.
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The tragedy is that these things are allowed to happen by the people that have the political power to stop it. But I suppose the fact that it’s receiving universal condemnation in the media is an achivement. Whoever is going to offer Hartnett the next job will hopefully be more circumspect!
The British Estalishment in action. The NAO and the judges did what they do best – cover up. It’s a testament to Mba’s courage and determination and the support of Margaret Hodge and the PAC and campaigners like you Richard that public opinion is overwhelmingly against the Establishment on this one. No mean achievement and long may it continue!
The “Predator State” at work…
Senior tax officials need a DNC written into their contact to stop them working for companies that exploit loopholes in the tax system.
The observation that Hartnett started out as a hardman with an impressive knowledge of taxation shows how insidious the process of regulatory and corporate capture is. Once you’re caught up in the culture of an organisation, norms get subtly shifted and subverted without you really realising it and you can always rationalise your decisions to yourself in the terms of that culture.
I seem to remember that Private Eye had his card marked as soon as the appointment was announced.
I think the Guardian was referring to the start of his career at HMRC. He had doubtless been nobbled long before he got the top job.
Oddly I don’t agree
And that’s because I know Dave Hartnett
Damn it, you’ll even find he entertained me (once)
Channel 4’s Fact Check blog looks at this
http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/
I’m no left wing radical, but even I think this stinks. I am staggered but not surprised that there are not clauses in HMRC contracts to stop ex employees moving into the private tax profession until a reasonable time elapses.
We need to speak next week