Scope for improvement

Is Osborne cracking the whip?  The Public Accounts Committee is less than impressed, according to The Times:

Only 35 wealthy British tax dodgers are investigated by Revenue & Customs each year despite tax fraud costing the country an annual £16 billion, according to a committee of MPs.

HMRC was not even able to say how many high-net-worth individuals it successfully prosecutes for tax evasion, the Commons public accounts committee said in a report. Failure to prosecute wealthy evaders had “created the impression that the rich can get away with tax fraud”, it said.

The MPs said that HMRC was “not doing enough” to tackle tax fraud and had made only “limited progress” over the past five years. They criticised its “unclear” strategy to combat evasion, the hidden economy and criminal activities such as smuggling, but reserved particular criticism for inspectors’ failure to prosecute wealthy individuals.

If only they put in the same kind of effort as goes into prosecuting benefit fraud.

I don't suppose it is entirely the fault of HMRC, given the staff reductions they have faced in recent years.   You might even think that the Tories were discouraging HMRC from going after their wealthy chums ...