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HMRC must invest in more staff, says union boss

Posted: 19 January 2009
Issue: Online only
Categories: Update, News, Admin, Government, HMRC

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The Government must hire additional tax experts for HMRC, not reduce the department's staff numbers, according to Terry Cook, president of the ARC union.

Mr Cook’s remarks follow calls by former trade minister Digby Jones’s insistence that the number of civil servants should be reduced by half.

Such a move would put further pressure on a Revenue already ‘struggling to contain the tide of tax avoidance and evasion’, said Mr Cook, whose organisation represents senior HMRC managers.

He went on to quote social commentator Polly Toynbee description of the department as being ‘beleaguered by powerful tax consultancies dedicated to undermining tax in any way they can’.

And he forecast additional work pressures on ARC members as businesses look to reduce their tax liabilities during the recession.

‘In 2007, HMRC estimated that the potential corporation tax alone at risk was £8.5 billion,’ said Mr Cook. ‘A TUC report in 2008 put the figure for tax lost annually from tax avoidance at £25 billion.’

‘It is vital for the public to have confidence that tax rules are properly enforced, so that powerful large corporations and the wealthiest individuals are paying their fair share of the tax burden.’

Mr Cook went on to highlight the contribution of management-level workers within the Revenue.

‘Senior staff in local offices typically bring in additional yield of at least 20 times the costs of employing them,’ he said. ‘For ARC members who tackle the most serious fraud and the most aggressive tax avoidance, the figure is many times higher.'

HMRC have repeatedly come under fire for their programmes of cutbacks and redundancies.

Most recently, the taxman was forced to dismiss as ‘scaremongering’ a claim that thousands of employees will lose their jobs as a result of a decision to close 93 offices.

‘There is no evidence at all that we are close to a point at which the cost of employing more people might begin to exceed the benefit,' said

‘Now is the time for the Government to invest in HMRC staff so that the whole country can reap the benefits.’

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