£1.7 million TV campaign to detect tax evaders |
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Published
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Tue, 28 Feb 2006 13:05
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LONDON: The British government is launching a television campaign to crack down on tax evaders. It intends to motivate the public to inform the authorities about any tax evasion through a hotline. The target will be those who deliberately avoid paying tax.
The advertisements, to be released by the revenue & customs department, will first appear on Wednesday. The government had earlier launched a radio and newspaper campaign, which resulted in huge increase in calls informing about tax evaders.
The 1.7-million-pound campaign depicts a workman in a pub boasting about not paying taxes and never giving his customers any receipts.
Revenue & customs department chairman Sir David Varney said honest members of the public are clearly concerned about people who avoid paying their taxes. They can now use a dedicated hotline number to call the department. The hotline, 0800 788 887, functions from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.
Revenue & customs estimates the size of the "black economy" in the country at around 75 billion pounds a year. Individuals and small business operators who get paid in cash make up a large chunk of these evaders. Payment in cash is simple because such payments can basically avoid VAT.
A department spokesperson said the department is not pinpointing any particular group. "It is simply people who evade paying their taxes."
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Tax evasion: HMRC to probe offshore accounts of UK residents 