Having written previously on the distinction between tax evasion and tax avoidance which is an issue that Echo editor Ian Murray recently commented on, I read a letter in the paper last week which stated that tax avoidance cost the Exchequer £34 billion.
Correct me if I am wrong, but on reading the HM Revenue and Customs Measuring The Tax Gaps report, the tax gap for 2012/13 which is the difference between the amount of tax that should in theory, be collected by HMRC, against what is actually collected is £34 billion, of which £3.1 billion is due to tax avoidance as such.
Even so £3.1 billion is a lot of money, but I expect that even if we outlawed this currently legal practice some of the affected people might avoid paying tax in this country by moving abroad.
Malcolm Clarke, Eastleigh.
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