HMRC Staff Needed to Recoup £95 Billion Lost to Tax Evasion and Avoidance

That the Parliament welcomes the report, Tax Justice and Jobs: The business case for investing in staff at HM Revenue & Customs, by Richard Murphy FCA; notes the detailed calculations that it contains suggesting that it is likely that £70 billion are lost annually to tax evasion in the United Kingdom, which adds to a previously calculated £25 billion lost to tax avoidance; further notes, at a time of high unemployment, the report’s suggested low average real cost to government of employing new HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff of £3,700 a year per head, which for 200,000 new employees would amount to vastly less than the interest paid on the tax debt that could be recovered by them even at current low rates, and calls on the UK Government to cancel the rise in VAT and the nuclear weapons programme, suspend its public services cuts agenda and implement the report’s recommendations, including reversing the last UK administration’s dismissal of HMRC staff.