HMRC has confirmed that it will close another 14 offices in the UK and cut more than 1,000 jobs, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union says.
HMRC has confirmed that it will close another 14 offices in the UK and cut more than 1,000 jobs, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union says.
HMRC revealed the cuts on the same day it announced £34bn in tax was uncollected last year. The move followed a consultation in the summer in which the PCS raised the department’s inability to properly tackle tax avoidance and evasion. The closure announcement sparked a spontaneous walkout by staff in Merthyr Tydfil.
The PCS, which last month published a new report on the extent of tax evasion authored by Richard Murphy, says £34bn is a serious underestimation, but collecting even this would change the debate about the funding of public services overnight. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘It makes absolutely no economic sense to continue cutting in the department that collects the taxes that fund the public services we all rely on. This political and economic vandalism is even more stark and outrageous when, even by the department’s own modest estimate, tens of billions of pounds is lost to our public finances every year, largely through tax evasion and avoidance.
HMRC has confirmed that it will close another 14 offices in the UK and cut more than 1,000 jobs, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union says.
HMRC has confirmed that it will close another 14 offices in the UK and cut more than 1,000 jobs, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union says.
HMRC revealed the cuts on the same day it announced £34bn in tax was uncollected last year. The move followed a consultation in the summer in which the PCS raised the department’s inability to properly tackle tax avoidance and evasion. The closure announcement sparked a spontaneous walkout by staff in Merthyr Tydfil.
The PCS, which last month published a new report on the extent of tax evasion authored by Richard Murphy, says £34bn is a serious underestimation, but collecting even this would change the debate about the funding of public services overnight. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘It makes absolutely no economic sense to continue cutting in the department that collects the taxes that fund the public services we all rely on. This political and economic vandalism is even more stark and outrageous when, even by the department’s own modest estimate, tens of billions of pounds is lost to our public finances every year, largely through tax evasion and avoidance.
