Much like an eccentric armour clad billionaire, a latex wearing femme fetale, an enraged green scientist, and a super solider from the past, the UK tax avengers have been on a mission to rid the country of pesky criminals. What is the difference between the fictional ensemble I just mentioned compared to HMRC’s crack task force I hear you ask? … The UK tax avengers only caught one person.
As the UK tax avenging task force suited up and vowed to catch 20 of the most unruly (and by the looks of things, unkempt) tax avoiders, the country was poised for a Hollywood showdown of epic proportions.
In an auxiliary move that gushed both confidence and empowerment, the Revenue released a number of forlorn looking mug shots of the 20 guiltiest culprits, their glazed eyes almost begging for mercy from the menacing task force that promised to pursue them ‘relentlessly’.
The outcome of this otherwise exciting tale of justice is far less overwhelming than anybody would have hoped however, as only one of the UK’s 20 most-wanted alleged fraudsters and tax evaders have been caught.
Labour said the arrest rate suggested the project had been a “huge failure”, of course referring to the fact that out of the 20 individuals named, 19 remain at large, and further commenting on the matter, Shadow Treasury Minister Catherine McKinnell saying that “The government needs to do better” bearing in mind that one year on, so many on the most-wanted list had still not been caught.
Despite this, HMRC have now told us not to worry as it has intelligence on a number of suspects, and in a bold move, have added 10 more faces to its gallery of inevitable justice. Their pictures are being published on the HMRC’s flickr channel.
“Tax fraud and evasion are illegal and will not be tolerated,” said Chancellor George Osborne, reassuring the nation that these criminals are being hunted vigorously. (Promising words indeed seeing as though the price of beer still hasn’t budged a penny)
Whatever your thoughts are on HMRC’s frankly bizarre ‘cops and robbers’ bungle however, many have expressed their anger that the focus of the tax authority’s wrath should be on tackling aggressive tax avoidance (notably by large companies that I shall not name as I enjoy both drinking coffee and ordering books off the internet) as opposed to one-off, isolated cases.
What are your thoughts? Please feel free to comment in the box provided… (Or indeed keep them to yourself)
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