According to a report in the Guardian of 11 July, profiteers will grab maybe £10 billion this year in VAT fraud in Britain.
That’s £200 for every child, woman, and man in the country — or one-ninth of the total Health Service budget.
And it’s small beer. In the 1980s, the Tories gave the rich £20 billion a year (more in today's money) in tax cuts.
The Blair-Brown government continues those tax cuts. And recent research reported by Prem Sikka of Essex University and Mark Hampton of Kent University estimates that the tax avoidance industry rakes in fully £100 billion a year for the rich.
That’s accountants and lawyers doing wriggles which avoid tax payments quite legally.
The Guardian on 10 July gave the example of plutocrats who run their British-based businesses from tax-free Monaco. So long as they work “from home” enough of the time, they avoid being classified as British residents or paying any British income tax.
The average worker, on PAYE, has no scope to avoid tax.
£100 billion is more than the total Health Service budget. Tax the rich and save the Health Service!
