The UK’s tax authority is assigning dedicated “customer compliance managers” to more than 200 billionaires as part of a crackdown meant to raise £500m for the public purse.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said it had for the first time compiled a list of billionaires who are required to pay tax in the UK, regardless of whether they formally live in the country, to tackle a “wealthy tax gap” caused by those who do not pay what they ought.
Well the problem is we’re not taxing them significantly more, we’re assigning manpower to gently cajol them into paying the small amount we do tax them.
Exactly. There’s a difference between creating new rules to tax them more, and collecting the tax they’re already supposed to be paying but aren’t.
I truly hope this pays off. Some folk say things like “but they’ll leave if we tax them”. Good! If they’re making money off us and not paying what they’re due, they’re damaging our economy and we’re better off without them. If they truly were performing a worthwhile service, then someone else will fill the void. Same goes for the corporations, who I hope are next.
Sounds like progress to me.
It is genuinely an improvement, we’re just hoping for more. I think that more or less sums up Labour at the moment actually.