I explain in City AM this morning why tax reform should be the lesson from the latest avoidance saga:
Take That’s Gary Barlow has again been reported to have participated in complicated tax avoidance schemes. And as ever, discussion on the subject has been clouded by inaccurate reporting. Many have claimed that personal tax avoidance “costs the economy” £5bn a year. This is confused nonsense, based on an HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) estimate of how much personal tax avoidance costs it. Extra money in people’s bank accounts has not left the economy – it’s still there, perhaps being spent more widely.