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Note the bottom right figure of \u00a334 billion agrees with the table above.<\/p>\n
Now lets look at earlier tables as first published for 2007\/08 and 2008\/09 (I have these on this blog: HMRC now hide the originals):<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Documents\/TaxGapHMRC2009.jpg\")
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And<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Documents\/TaxGapHMRC2010.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
So, note that the 2007\/08 total was \u00a340 billion and that for 2008\/09 was \u00a342 billion.<\/p>\n
But now those figures have been restated. Now they are \u00a338 billion and \u00a336 billion respectively, even reversing the trend in the data.<\/p>\n
This is supposedly due to changed methodologies. Now I have no problem with improving methodology, we all do that. But to restate and to not make clear the degree to which you have done it is just lying about the state of understanding at the time the work was originally done and that I consider wholly unacceptable - as it is in accounting practice for precisely that reason. But HMRc think they can get away with it.<\/p>\n
Candidly, that's just not good enough from an authority where honesty, transparency and consistency are the required standards for conduct.<\/p>\n
On this basis today's published data is just a straightforward misrepresentation of the truth. Call it a lie if you like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I thought it worth posting some comparable data on the tax gap. This is how HMRC is saying today that it has moved over time:
Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hmrc","category-tax-gap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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