Tax Dodging: Hand-In to HMRC

Take a look at the video from today’s hand-in!

Back in December, 38 Degrees members were outraged to find out that the government’s tax collectors – HMRC – had been cutting “sweetheart deals” for big companies. Thousands of us wrote letters of complaint to HMRC about them letting big business get away with billions of pounds of tax that could have been spent on public services.

Today, at the end of the financial year, 38 Degrees volunteers handed in a whopping 34,937 letters of complaint from 38 Degrees members to HMRC.  We had to carry all 18 boxes of complaints by hand right up to the double doors – but it was worth it!

Tax dodging has been a hot issue for 38 Degrees members for some time. Just last month, 38 Degrees members voted for cracking down on tax dodging as one of our very top priorities.

The government recently said they’re planning a new “general anti-avoidance rule” to crack down on the worst tax dodging schemes. That shows they’re feeling the heat!  But some experts don’t think the plans go far enough. Not only that, amazing action group UK Uncut is mounting a legal challenge to try to claw back unpaid tax from bankers Goldman Sachs.

Should we all be weighing in to push for a stronger “anti-avoidance rule”?  Or seeing what we can do to help UK Uncut’s legal action?  What do you think 38 Degrees members should do together next to stamp out tax dodging?