HMRC, the government department responsible for collecting tax, refused to release the official estimate for how much tax is lost to tax havens overseas after an MP lodged a request. These havens show the bosses’ propensity for twisting the law for their own gain and finding ways to flout the laws that everyone else abides by.
Financial crimes are punished quite heavily when a working-class or middle-class person defrauds benefits or embezzles, but the super-rich can commit a level of crime that eclipses both previous kinds a thousand times over. The scale of tax avoided through these havens was revealed in 2017 when the ‘Paradise Papers’ were leaked online. These documents even showed that the late Queen Elizabeth II had investments in two offshore financial centres in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
HMRC’s refusal to clarify the figures and release them is further proof that capitalism is not just ill equipped to handle large scale financial crime, in fact it is actively colluding and complicit.
HMRC refused to disclose the figure for ‘offshore tax at risk’ to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which sent its own FOI request. The reason for refusing? “It could prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs”.
A perplexing response that seems to imply that this information could wreak havoc on HMRC’s reputation. This withheld tax could be going to public services like our NHS, roads in deprived areas in dire need of repair, free or vastly cheaper childcare, and social programmes for families and children.
Jim Harra, the erstwhile CEO of HMRC, referred to a number released in 2024 when asked by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. This number was incomplete and based on self-assessment tax returns, not a reliable or unbiased account. This came to £0.3 billion but the committee believe the UK’s actual ‘tax gap’ is nearly £50 billion.
Are we likely to see this £50 billion being collected by pro-big business Labour government, when Starmer’s record in power has been to protect the fat cats?
The socialist reorganisation of society would unlock the wealth of society hidden away in tax havens or gambled on the financial markets. This withheld wealth must be seized from the super-rich bosses, owned and democratically controlled by the working class, for it to be used fairly and equitably to improve the lives of us all.
Des Stott
