Tax cheats have no hiding place under this coalition
Where the Labour government failed to act, the coalition has taken radical steps to eradicate unfairness in the taxation system
Tax evasion is morally repugnant. It's stealing from law-abiding people who face higher taxes to make good the lost revenue.
Those who evade taxes, like benefit cheats, are leeches on society. And my message to those who try to hide their incomes from the Revenue in offshore bank accounts and false declarations is simple: we will find you and your money.
Last week we signed an agreement with Switzerland to make it much harder to hide money in Swiss bank accounts. As a result, a hefty tax will be imposed on bank accounts held by Britons and the money passed to us by the Swiss government.
We've been working on this deal for over a year, and it will bring in potentially billions of pounds in revenue. It amazes me to hear that the last Labour government had the opportunity to do this a decade ago, but didn't. Just think of the billions of pounds that could have been collected and were instead left in the pockets of the tax cheats. So much for all their talk of fairness.
The Swiss tax deal is just the start. We're looking to do more and increase international pressure on those that refuse to co-operate. The number of places to hide money away from the taxman will get smaller and smaller.
Tax evaders also make use of tax loopholes, and the truth is that over the last decade they have multiplied. It's up to me as chancellor to close the loopholes down, and the best way is to make the tax code simpler. In the last two budgets we've done that. We have found £900m for HM Revenue & Customs to fight avoidance and evasion. And we have taken specific steps to shut down specific avoidance schemes, such as stamp duty and disguised remuneration, which the opposition amazingly voted against in parliament. In total, the tax avoidance measures in this year's budget will raise £1bn a year – more than in any single budget of recent years.
We've also dealt with one of the biggest sources of abuse that we inherited from the last government: the capital gains tax system. We want to encourage genuine enterprise and risk-taking. Instead we found a regime where some of the richest people boasted about paying less tax than their cleaners, by shifting their income into capital gains.
That was clearly unfair. And it was costing the taxpayer over £1bn each year. So we stopped it.
Another area where we've taken action is the taxation of non-domiciles. We want Britain to attract talented people from around the world. But it's also right to ask them to make a contribution. Back in 1994 Gordon Brown promised to abolish the non-domicile tax break, but nothing happened and the abuses grew. That's why I proposed as shadow chancellor that wealthy non-doms pay an annual levy for their privileged status, and in the most recent budget I increased the levy to £50,000 a year for those who have lived in Britain for more than 12 years.
The record speaks for itself. The last government presided over a bonanza of tax evasion and avoidance. With this coalition government the hiding places for tax cheats are systematically being shut down. We will make sure that everyone pays their fair share.
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Where the Labour government failed to act, the coalition has taken radical steps to eradicate unfairness in the taxation system
Tax evasion is morally repugnant. It's stealing from law-abiding people who face higher taxes to make good the lost revenue.
Those who evade taxes, like benefit cheats, are leeches on society. And my message to those who try to hide their incomes from the Revenue in offshore bank accounts and false declarations is simple: we will find you and your money.
Last week we signed an agreement with Switzerland to make it much harder to hide money in Swiss bank accounts. As a result, a hefty tax will be imposed on bank accounts held by Britons and the money passed to us by the Swiss government.
We've been working on this deal for over a year, and it will bring in potentially billions of pounds in revenue. It amazes me to hear that the last Labour government had the opportunity to do this a decade ago, but didn't. Just think of the billions of pounds that could have been collected and were instead left in the pockets of the tax cheats. So much for all their talk of fairness.
The Swiss tax deal is just the start. We're looking to do more and increase international pressure on those that refuse to co-operate. The number of places to hide money away from the taxman will get smaller and smaller.
Tax evaders also make use of tax loopholes, and the truth is that over the last decade they have multiplied. It's up to me as chancellor to close the loopholes down, and the best way is to make the tax code simpler. In the last two budgets we've done that. We have found £900m for HM Revenue & Customs to fight avoidance and evasion. And we have taken specific steps to shut down specific avoidance schemes, such as stamp duty and disguised remuneration, which the opposition amazingly voted against in parliament. In total, the tax avoidance measures in this year's budget will raise £1bn a year – more than in any single budget of recent years.
We've also dealt with one of the biggest sources of abuse that we inherited from the last government: the capital gains tax system. We want to encourage genuine enterprise and risk-taking. Instead we found a regime where some of the richest people boasted about paying less tax than their cleaners, by shifting their income into capital gains.
That was clearly unfair. And it was costing the taxpayer over £1bn each year. So we stopped it.
Another area where we've taken action is the taxation of non-domiciles. We want Britain to attract talented people from around the world. But it's also right to ask them to make a contribution. Back in 1994 Gordon Brown promised to abolish the non-domicile tax break, but nothing happened and the abuses grew. That's why I proposed as shadow chancellor that wealthy non-doms pay an annual levy for their privileged status, and in the most recent budget I increased the levy to £50,000 a year for those who have lived in Britain for more than 12 years.
The record speaks for itself. The last government presided over a bonanza of tax evasion and avoidance. With this coalition government the hiding places for tax cheats are systematically being shut down. We will make sure that everyone pays their fair share.
Source
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