Print this article
UK Names And Shames Top Tax Cheats
Tom Burroughes
4 January 2013
HM Revenue and Customs, the UK tax authority, has published the
names and photographs of the most serious tax dodgers last year in a campaign
to humiliate such people in a crackdown on tax evasion. A total of 32 offenders have been sentenced to a total of
155 years and 10 months in custody, according to a statement from HMRC today. “Most people play by the rules and pay what they owe, but
HMRC is cracking down on those who don’t,” David Gauke, exchequer secretary to
the Treasury, said. "We hope that publishing these pictures will help get
across that it always makes sense to declare all your income, and tax dodgers
are simply storing up trouble for the future,” he said. To view a gallery of such individuals, click here. The UK
government has devoted funds to going after tax evaders and certain forms of
aggressive tax avoidance schemes. Like other Western governments, the UK is seeking
to stem what it sees as losses of revenues at a time of large budget deficits. In December last year, HMRC warned hundreds of people in the
UK who have Swiss bank accounts that they are getting a “last chance” to pay
any tax due or face investigation. In some circumstances, such people could pay
penalties of up to 150 per cent of the actual tax owed.