Tax offices refuse to charge rich people with evasion – to avoid reputational damage
How sympathetic of our tax guardians! And if I get caught evading my tax responsibilities, will I receive the same treatment?
No?
Then this is unfair and must end.
It also seems contradictory. Look:
A senior HMRC official admitted that the UK tax authority panders to the rich and powerful when chasing them for tax evasion so they can avoid “reputational damage“.
If you ever had any doubt that in Britain there really is “one rule for them, and another for the rest of us“, this utterly astonishing admission by the UK’s tax authority proves it.
Richard Las, a deputy director of HMRC, said that criminal prosecutions are not the “default option” for cases of tax evasion, money laundering or fraud. He went on to say:
“When deciding whether to deploy our resources, we try to understand what motivates different types of offenders. For example some tax offenders are very wealthy, prominent members of the community. We know that these types of people do not want the reputational damage of custodial sentences, and we can use that to our advantage.”
I could understand this strategy if it resulted in a larger repayment to the Treasury, but the evidence indicates that it does not.
Can HMRC point to anyone who has paid more back to the state as a result of the organisation using the threat of reputational damage “to our advantage”? No – because that would make the whole exercise pointless.
And consider this: Is HMRC admitting it blackmails the rich?
The more one thinks about the HMRC statement, the less credible it seems.
This government department is apparently admitting blackmailing rich people with the threat of reputational damage if they don’t pay up – but we have no evidence to show that they have paid everything they owe.
We need a lot more information.
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While the self employed get threatened with court action the rich can wave them off oh how quaint is that
Just shows the Elite still have friends in low places willing to scratch their fat friends backs. I’m sure their gratitude will be reflected in their next political party donation.
It’s high time these “reputations” were damaged – seriously damaged.
If I recall it was not that long ago a HM Revenue big wig was criticised, when retiring, for joining forces with one of the major accounting companies on some lucrative salary. This move was seen by some as a reward for services rendered by being tame custodians of the government purse when in office and transferring seamlessly to the other side. This insider system cannot be allowed to continue if things are to improve.