UK govt wrongly paid out more than 9 bln stg in tax credits - Liberal Democrats |
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Wed, 23 May 2007 10:28
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LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The British government wrongly paid out more than 9 bln stg in its tax credit scheme, contrasting with the 5.7 bln stg stated by official data, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.The opposition party said the official figures, supplied by the Office for National Statistics, fail to take into account payments made due to fraud and error, which would add 3.6 bln stg to the total overpaid in the first three years of the scheme.'When fraud and error is added to overpayments, 9 bln stg has been wrongly paid out over just three years -- and up to 5 bln stg of this will never be recovered,' said David Laws, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.Treasury officials have dismissed the Liberal Democrat calculations.alex.brittain@thomson.comabr/jfrCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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