Liberal Democrats – Crack Down on Tax Havens

Liberal Democrats – Crack Down on Tax Havens

The Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference was held in Brighton from September 22nd until the 26th. Notable members of the party gave speeches which pointed towards targeting tax havens, tax avoiders and non-domiciled millionaires.

Business Secretary Vince Cable spoke at the Conference saying that the Government would be “cracking down hard, not just on criminal tax evasion but on abusive tax avoidance.” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander promised to get more from “the small minority of wealthy people who don’t play by the rules”. Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told delegates at the conference that he would push for a wealth or mansion tax on homes worth more than £2 million. Furthermore, a party spokesperson said “Liberal Democrats are committed to targeting companies and individuals who are using aggressive tax avoidance measures by hiding money off shore.”

Cable further stated that there should be a crackdown on those who live in Britain but are classified as non-doms – whose earnings outside of the UK are exempt from taxes. It was announced that non-dom tax payers would have to pay a £50,000 levy after living in the UK for 12 years. Though it was announced that there would be no further substantive changes to non-dom rules until the general election, Cable insisted that the status of non-doms “will be revisited as part of the ongoing review of taxation.”

Part of the Liberal Democrat party plan is to “sniff out” tax cheats by investigating those with homes or assets worth more that £1million. Danny Alexander plans to do this by boosting HM Revenue & Customs’ affluence unit staff allowing them to investigate nearly 800,000 individuals worth more than £2.5million.

The Business Secretary believes that the war against the “shady” use of offshore tax havens should be a “central objective of policy.” According to Cable’s aides, one option was for the UK to establish further agreements with tax havens which would reveal the identities of British domiciles who have large sums in offshore accounts. They would also look to close loopholes which allow people to place assets and firms offshore, thus avoiding taxes.

As the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats continued to say, “as Vince Cable and Danny Alexander have made clear, Liberal Democrats will be cracking down on anyone using tax havens to solely avoid paying a fair share of tax in the UK.”

The Sunday Times,
23 September 2012

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