Back in 2o12 I leaked to the International Tax Review that the UK was finally going to crack down on the absence of tax transparency in its tax havens. The story is here.
Why did I get the leak? Because I had spent years before then working to shatter the secrecy in those tax havens that was used to help tax cheats. This blog was called Tax Research UK back then. for a good reason: that was most of what it was about.
Yesterday the FT reported that:
The number of people who admitted not paying tax on their overseas assets to the UK tax authority jumped by more than a third last year, prompted by warning letters sent by HM Revenue & Customs.
They added:
A freedom of information request revealed that 4,443 people confessed to not paying enough tax on their foreign assets to HM Revenue & Customs in 2021-22. The figures were 35 per cent higher than the 2020-21 year, when 3,301 individuals admitted failing to meet their tax obligations on foreign assets.
As they noted, £56.9 million was raised as a result.
None of that would have been possible in political-economic terms without the work of a very small group of tax justice campaigners back then, of whom I was one.
I am delighted we succeeded because remember that not only was this recovered, but vast amounts were legitimised as a result as well.
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Sorry Richard being a bit slow here – what do you mean by “vast amounts were legitimised as a result as well”. Thanks
The funds were declared when they had not previously been
Hello Richard,
I’m relatively new to your blog but read with interest, if not wholely understanding, your comment and opinion.
In this instance I drifted over to your tweets and in one of them you say “no government needs to balance its budget … This government is ignoring it’s duty and is choosing to balance it’s budget instead.”
To me this flies in the face of the regular and oft stated comments by ministers etc!
If you are correct and “we” are being conned, why are journalists, the media and commentators not shouting from the rooftops?
I should be extremely grateful if you would explain, preferably at schoolboy level(!), why/how “no government needs to balance its budget”.
Thanks for your efforts and blogs to date.
Regards,
Grundy.
The explanation is in ‘Money for nothing and my Tweets for free’, my free ebook. Google it or it is my pinned tweet on my profile.
Thank you.