Tax-Dodging Billionaires Are Being Let off the Hook by HMRC, Warn MPs
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MPs today criticised UK tax authorities for failing to chase billionaires to ensure they pay their taxes, and not even knowing how many are failing to do so.
The report from the Public Accounts Committee comes as pressure mounts on the Government to introduce a wealth tax, and as Chancellor Rachel Reeves desperately tries to find new revenues to bridge the gap in public finances.
Despite creating 100 datasets to tackle people with high spending life styles who are not paying all their taxes, HMRC's one missing data set is the one that keeps records on billionaires.
HMRC defines the wealthy as anybody earning over £200,000 a year and with assets totalling over £2 million. But billionaires have huge wealth and can be worth 500 times more than those classified as wealthy by the tax authorities.
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David Hencke
Lloyd Hatton MP, Member of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "We already know a great deal about billionaires living in the UK, with much information about their tax affairs and wealth in the public domain.
"So we were disappointed to find that HMRC, of all organisations, was unable to provide any insight into their tax affairs from its own data - particularly given that any single one of these individuals' contributions could make a significant difference to the overall picture.
We found a similar apparent lack of curiosity in how wide the tax gap is both for the very wealthy and for wealth stashed away offshore
Lloyd Hatton MP, Member of the Public Accounts Committee,
Hatton continued: "Our report shows that, however you slice it, there is a lot of money being left on the table. HMRC must, under its new leadership, begin collecting the correct amount of tax from the very wealthiest - and this must include wealth that is currently squirrelled away in tax havens. There is certainly room for improvement. We hope that HMRC uses both our recommendations and the new funding it has secured in this area to do so."
The report states that the number of wealthy people in the UK jumped from 700,000 to 850,000 in the last five years - but it has lumped together those earning £200,000 annually with the super wealthy.
It has raised more money from the wealthy - rising from £2.2 billion to £5.2 billion in the last five years but there has been a big drop in prosecutions and penalties applied to the very wealthy.
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Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
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MPs today criticised UK tax authorities for failing to chase billionaires to ensure they pay their taxes, and not even knowing how many are failing to do so.
The report from the Public Accounts Committee comes as pressure mounts on the Government to introduce a wealth tax, and as Chancellor Rachel Reeves desperately tries to find new revenues to bridge the gap in public finances.
Despite creating 100 datasets to tackle people with high spending life styles who are not paying all their taxes, HMRC's one missing data set is the one that keeps records on billionaires.
HMRC defines the wealthy as anybody earning over £200,000 a year and with assets totalling over £2 million. But billionaires have huge wealth and can be worth 500 times more than those classified as wealthy by the tax authorities.
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The technology has already recouped hundreds of millions of pounds and could be extended right across Government, according to a new report by the National Audit Office
David Hencke
Lloyd Hatton MP, Member of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "We already know a great deal about billionaires living in the UK, with much information about their tax affairs and wealth in the public domain.
"So we were disappointed to find that HMRC, of all organisations, was unable to provide any insight into their tax affairs from its own data - particularly given that any single one of these individuals' contributions could make a significant difference to the overall picture.
We found a similar apparent lack of curiosity in how wide the tax gap is both for the very wealthy and for wealth stashed away offshore
Lloyd Hatton MP, Member of the Public Accounts Committee,
Hatton continued: "Our report shows that, however you slice it, there is a lot of money being left on the table. HMRC must, under its new leadership, begin collecting the correct amount of tax from the very wealthiest - and this must include wealth that is currently squirrelled away in tax havens. There is certainly room for improvement. We hope that HMRC uses both our recommendations and the new funding it has secured in this area to do so."
The report states that the number of wealthy people in the UK jumped from 700,000 to 850,000 in the last five years - but it has lumped together those earning £200,000 annually with the super wealthy.
It has raised more money from the wealthy - rising from £2.2 billion to £5.2 billion in the last five years but there has been a big drop in prosecutions and penalties applied to the very wealthy.
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