Budget to focus on tax avoidance
The chancellor is expected to announce a target of £1bn extra collected in revenue through a clampdown on tax avoidance schemes
THE CHANCELLOR WILL announce a crackdown on tax breaks for the “super-rich” in the Budget.
The Treasury is expecting £1bn to be made through measures, which includes £500m already given towards the training of new HM Revenue & Customs inspectors. A Treasury source told the Telegraph: “There will be a purge on tax avoidance. Big business and wealthy individuals are in our sights.”
HMRC will also focus on criminal gangs that evade VAT and duties with an aim to increase the number of prosecutions, the BBC has reported. Two hundred HMRC staff are being trained in self-defence techniques to deal with potentially violent fraudsters when premises are raided.
Osborne has set HMRC a target of raising an extra £7bn by the 2014/15 tax year.
Photo: Prime Minister’s Office/Crown copyright
