One of the regular commentators on this blog who does, I believe, work for HMRC made this comment last night:
And then there is the really big issue [on offshore tax] that does not seem to have taken centre stage, although it yet might?
Cameron's government is committed to closing all but 14 of the UK's 300+ tax offices. How can anybody believe he is committed to oppose tax avoidance and evasion in the light of that?
There are doubts as to whether HMRC has the resources to properly follow up the info in the Panama papers now, after all the cuts it has taken. It certainly won't have the resources after most of the offices have been closed.
I am not sure that there is much to add to that.
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No of course not. It’s a common neoliberal tactic – strip the regulatory authorities of resources and then staff the rump with industry lackeys.
Except to make clear that the claim to be undertaking this policy to save money, and on the grounds that new technologies can replace some of the functions carried out by people, while it may be accurate is only one side of the coin. The second – far more important aim – is not publicised, it is to undermine the capacity and capabilities of the organisation such that in the restructuring that follows senior management have created the conditions required (and thus the legitimacy) to “redirect” activity into certain functions and away from others. Most usually dressed up by senior management as the need to prioritise.
As the holy grail of successive governments has been to reduce regulation – or in Tory-land speak – red tape, while at the same time recognising that the public might get a bit upset if the true scale, nature and impacts of those reductions became clear (wildlife protection being a recent example, but the removal of a raft of planning controls are another), using the cover of downsizing, cuts to “back-office” functions, and general austerity driven cuts as cover for what is really going on has become endemic across government and the public sector. It follows a well worn path which if my memory serves me correctly was pioneered at the Health and Safety Executive – now reduced to a rump agency – while the same process is almost complete at the Environment Agency and elsewhere.
This is the hidden – but deliberate – side of this and the previous government’s “austerity” drive across government and public services. And big business has been a cheerleader of that process. The ultimate aim is to produce a system where no government department, agency or other entity has the authority and/or resource to challenge the interests and demands of big business. It is, in short, a central feature of the corporate state and the curtailment of representative democracy. A road down which the UK is now traveling at great speed. And a goal that this government is committed to delivering by 2020.
The last point in many ways being the most important
Indeed – we are increasingly told that government ‘cannot afford’ and does not have the capacity, expertise or knowledge to carry out these functions any longer – and in any case commercial participants will do them ‘better. Of course where an activity is still dominated by a profession rather than commercial interests, such as the law or education, the government finds it does have the capacity and knowledge not only to regulate but to ‘reform’. Health care it seems is moving out of the hands of a profession and into the control of commercial interests (so the government can just leave behind the mess it has made there) and perhaps education (both secondary and tertiary) is making a similar transition.
“by their actions ye shall know them”
I leave to the better informed to provide the appropriate Biblical chapter/verse ref. I do not think it was a reference to the anti-Christ but in terms of tories, Cameron and taxes it could well have been.
Matthew 7:15-16 (NIV)
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them.”
The King James Version calls them “ravening” wolves. Which, I think, sounds more accurate.
Both verses are a pretty apt desrciption of this and the previous government.
here’s the essential ideological bias:
‘Figures show thousands more government inspectors are employed tackling benefits fraud than dealing with abuse of tax system’
See:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/13/benefit-or-tax-evasion-row-over-the-tories-targets?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H&utm_term=167009&subid=15449138&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
I’d ask people to be cautious using this. The SNP MP made a balls up of his question and what he said was wrong. The principle still stands. We have a lot of people chasing the poor on benefit discrepancies, and too few tax inspectors. The Government plans to cut HMRC further and close all but 14 of 300 tax offices. But the claim that only 300 HMRC staff chase the rich is wrong, it refers to one dedicated unit. There is another similar size unit for “net high worth individuals” and thousands of tax inspectors investigating large companies. HMRC’s rebuttal is also misleading. Their figure of 30,000 compliance staff includes VAT inspectors and many staff looking at small business.
Agreed
But the office closure data is relevant