Budget comment: on anti-avoidance

        'The global economic crisis and the response to it have changed the political environment. There is a new momentum for change. This has been a catalyst for concerted international action in areas like tax transparency and tackling avoidance and evasion. The Government is taking further action to change the game for those seeking to bend or break the rules on tax.'

So begins the preamble to Press Notice three — 'Protecting Tax Revenues'. Announcements about closing loopholes are hardly unexpected but this year the tone does seem to be more forceful than before. So what is the reality? The first is again the blurring of the line between avoidance and evasion. Both are undoubtedly major irritants to the government (to put it mildly) and I don't have any objection to measures being taken to tackle them. But they are quite separate and need...