Have Public Sector cuts now gone to far?

Faust

Good find.

The conclusions make no mention that HMRC is under resourced or unable to effectively collect tax as @Faust continues to claim.

Meanwhile it is a provable and verifiable fact that the tax gap has fallen from 8.3% to 6.5% in the last ten years.

And revenue collected will be about £716.5bn up from £553bn ten years ago.

With a lot fewer staff.

So the provable facts directly contradict the assertion that HMRC is unable to effectively collect taxes.

Faust

My only experience is being hounded to pay 10 years NIC as being self employed while I was sat at home child minding my own children for no pay.  All I asked was "could I top up my missing NIC voluntarily"

Faust

And during this period the tax base has dropped to 48%.  Just think what it could be with enough HMRC staff and employers that paid workers a proper wage instead of the government having to part fund those wages through in work benefits.

EarthRod

Seriously?

Is it anything to do with HMRC that the tax base is 48%?

Oh do please explain how more staff for HMRC would do anything at all to change that.

Do you even know what the tax base being 48% even means?

Enki

Or it could be that the bright sparks who work in the private sector decided a couple of decades ago they didn't need unions anymore, their bosses would good to them and provide great working practices etc.  Hmm! wonder how that's turned out for them?

Meanwhile the public sector stuck with the unions who through great sacrifices in the previous century ended up providing the working conditions that peaked in the mid 2000s.

The private sector have only themselves to blame for the lack of parity with the public sector. Instead of moaning all the time they should begin to look nearer home.

Ruperts slippers

Yes seriously.

BTW I notice you have singularly failed to mention the link I provided regarding HMRC?

Ruperts slippers

What do you want me to comment on?

How do future plans to close offices mean HMRC is unable to effectively collect taxes now?

How do your square your assertion that HMRC cannot effectively collect taxes with the provable facts that they are collecting more both in absolute and relative terms than ever before?

And do please elaborate 'seriously' how the resources of HMRC have anything at all to do with the size of the tax base.

Faust

Yes, I too can read and found this buried away in the report -

HMRC is staking a great deal on the success of its plans to digitise the tax system, but once again it lacks an adequate plan if demand for its call centres does not reduce as quickly as it hopes. HMRC faces an enormous challenge to maintain services, while delivering spending cuts, restructuring its business, replacing the Aspire contract (through which it has procured almost all its IT), at the same time as re-locating almost all its staff and dealing with the implications of Brexit. HMRC has lost its Chief Digital and Information Officer as a result of market pressures and losing further key staff would damage HMRC’s capability to deliver transformation and manage the risks when its IT contract ends. HMRC has committed to reducing staff in its personal tax service by a third in the next three years. When HMRC made some 5,600 staff reductions in 2014–15 customer service for personal taxpayers collapsed and HMRC had to recruit 2,400 additional staff in the following year to stabilise services. We note HMRC’s assurances that it will seek additional resources if digital services do not reduce demand for personal tax services in line with its expectations, but we are concerned that it has not agreed a contingency plan for this eventuality with HM Treasury.

EarthRod

And yet again... how do future plans mean that HMRC is unable to effectively collect taxes now?

(When they are provably collecting them more effectively than ever before).

Ruperts slippers

Maybe @Faust is referring to tax base erosion. We are aware many large companies shift profits accrued in the UK to so-called tax havens.

Also aware the tax base for London and areas south is 50% which is propping up the rest of the UK!

Thanks for making me carry out research in HMRC staffing levels and tax collection - they were over staffed. In addition, I should imagine the rolling out of digital tax returns will decrease staffing levels even further.