nton Lane examines the culture at HMRC and explores the impact of Government policies have on tax avoidance.
A little while ago I was asked by someone working for our Government why the number of tax avoidance schemes was on the increase. This may be hard to believe after the raft of anti- avoidance legislation, but in 2023 the number of marketed avoidance schemes has increased.
Perhaps the question demonstrates the difference between someone in the safe employment of His Majesty and those either employed in the private sector or setting up and running businesses. The simple answer to the question went something like this: “In 2008 the world global economy crashed as a result of sub prime lending in America. In the UK, the financial crisis resulted in a coalition government. With a political desire to exit the coalition, the Conservatives offered a promise of a referendum. We had pre-Brexit, Brexit and post-Brexit. Since then we have had a pandemic which affected our lives and the lives of our children – and at the same time politicians partied. We have then had exceptional increases in the cost of living as a result of Brexit and the Ukraine war with Russia. The reason why tax avoidance is on the increase is because few citizens respect your employer.”
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