An emboldened Rachel Reeves has waged war on tax dodgers in an effort to claw back billions for vital public services – but most Mirror readers don’t think her ambitious plans will work.
The Chancellor aims to bridge the staggering £39.8 billion tax gap by going after those who avoid or evade their fair share of taxes. To bolster these efforts, she aims to deploy 200 new experts starting in November, with plans to expand this team by 5,000 over this Parliament.
This decisive action comes as Reeves faces a daunting £22 billion hole in the public finances left by the Tories ahead of next month’s Budget. She told the Labour Party conference earlier this week: “At a time of hard choices, I will not tolerate the minority who continue to avoid paying what they owe. If you make your home and do your business in Britain, then you should pay your taxes here too. Those are my values. They are the Labour Party’s values. And they are the British people’s values.”
According to HMRC estimates from 2022/23 reveal a multi-billion pound gap exists between what should be collected in taxes and the actual amount received. Notably, wealthy individuals and businesses evading taxes, along with criminals smuggling alcohol and tobacco, accounted for roughly 24% of this tax gap last year.
We asked Do you think Rachel Reeves’ war on tax dodgers will work? An overwhelming 2,065 of you said no, it won’t work, while just 264 had faith it would.
‘Tax fraud costs the country far, far more than benefit fraud does’
Many of you commented on our story, here’s a selection of what some of you had to say:
Win124: “Yes it will. Why should people hide money that should be paid to the taxman? No wonder we are in this mess.”
Apollo11: “I get fed up of TV presenters and others etc having companies set up to avoid taxes. They should all be on PAYE.”
Cynicaloldie: “She should go for the big tax dodgers both Individual and Corporate and the rule should be if you are paid the money in the UK and it is not taxed at source then it has to be declared in the Tax Return for that Tax Year.
Centrist10: “Good to hear that Labour will crack down on benefits fraud. Starmer’s speech said the government will introduce a fraud, error and debt bill – this will allow fraud investigators to compel banks to hand over information about people’s finances if there is a suspicion they are claiming benefits they are not entitled to.”
Daididn’ty: “The Tories always had far more people chasing benefit fraud than tax fraud, even though it was a fraction of tax fraud. How cost effective was that? Nothing wrong with redressing the balance.”
Roosevelt: “Tax fraud costs the country far, far more than benefit fraud does.”
Bournemouthlady: “We have been living under a cloud of depression for over 14 years and it is uplifting to hear a govt speak in positive and optimistic terms for a change.”