The Pandora Papers have exposed how the rich and powerful can still slash their tax bills.
Tax Justice UK has decided it’s time to act, but we need your help .
We want to whip up media pressure on the Chancellor to tackle tax avoidance in his Budget on the 27th October.
Over the last ten years a lot has been done to clean up these types of schemes. However, much more could still be done by our politicians.
Support our crowdfunder and help us put pressure on the chancellor to act.
If it chose to, our government could use its 80 seat majority in the House of Commons to clamp down on tax dodging. Politicians could lift the lid on the type of opaque offshore companies used by Cherie Blair to avoid a £300,0000 stamp duty payment for the purchase of office space.
A law creating a public register of who really owns UK property through offshore arrangements is gathering dust in parliament. The government should pass this legislation now.
Many of the professionals who enable abuse aren’t regulated properly, as this report by Transparency International UK points out. There’s limited enforcement when bankers, accountants and lawyers are found to have enabled wrongdoing.
Finally, as our friends at TaxWatch revealed earlier this year, you are 23 times more likely to be prosecuted for benefit fraud in the UK, than tax fraud. Yet the government has cut the number of tax inspectors working for HMRC. This is about political will.
Tax officials bring in many times the revenue that they cost. Between 2016 and 2019 HMRC carried out a third fewer tax inspections. This should change.
The Pandora Papers is hot news because it exposes lurid details about how the rich and powerful live. If politicians want to end this kind of coverage, it’s in their power to act.
Sign the petition here.