Labour’s motion also notes that just one out of 1,100 people who have avoided or evaded tax have been prosecuted following the revelations of malpractice at HSBC bank, which were first given to the government in May 2010. It also calls upon Lord Green and the Prime Minister to make a full statement about his role at HSBC and his appointment as a Minister in 2011.
Labour say their first Finance Bill will:
- Introduce penalties for those who are caught by the General Anti-Abuse Rule
- Close loopholes used by hedge funds to avoid stamp duty
- Close loopholes like the Eurobonds loophole which allow some large companies to move profits out of the UK and avoid Corporation Tax
- Stop umbrella companies exploiting tax reliefs
- Scrapping the “Shares for Rights” scheme, which the OBR has warned could enable avoidance and cost £1bn and is administered by HMRC, and so ensure HMRC can better focus on tackling tax avoidance
- Tackle disguised self-employment by introducing strict deeming criteria
- Tackle the use of dormant companies to avoid tax by requiring them to report more frequently
Labour’s measures to tackle tax avoidance will also include:
- Ensuring stronger independent scrutiny of the tax system, including reliefs, and the government’s efforts to tackle tax avoidance
- Forcing the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to produce publicly available registries of beneficial ownership
- Making country-by-country reporting information publicly available
- Ensuring developing countries are properly engaged in the drawing up of global tax rules
Commenting on Labour's proposals Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, said: "David Cameron and George Osborne have totally failed to tackle tax avoidance in the last five years. They have failed to close the loopholes we have highlighted. And the amount of uncollected tax has risen under this government. I am determined that the next Labour Government will act where the Tories have failed. “We will close loopholes that cost the exchequer billions of pounds a year, increase transparency and toughen up penalties. And we will act in our first Finance Bill."
Also commenting the Shadow Exchequer Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said: "The Tories and Lib Dems should back our motion tomorrow to show that they are serious about tackling tax avoidance and evasion. We have a clear plan for our first Finance Bill after the election – they need to back that or explain why they don’t."
