A former employee of HSBC recently leaked data that revealed 106,000 of the bank’s clients in Switzerland held secret accounts with the bank for the sole purpose of avoiding taxes. The leak revealed that the clients came from over 200 countries and were hiding over $118 billion dollars in the accounts. The data also revealed that HM Revenue and Customs failed to prosecute citizens who they knew were liable for unpaid taxes. Proponents of prosecution believe the government should take a more active role in monitoring people’s taxes and those caught evading taxes should be subject to stiff fines or jail time. Opponents believe that the people who evaded taxes were not breaking any laws since their funds were stored in Swiss bank accounts.
@92M28HD2yrs2Y
No, the system should be reformed to prevent the ability to do so rather than trying to chase after the fact - that’s just a road to massive wastes of time & resources
@92HS22D2yrs2Y
No, only in cases of evasion not avoidance, but government should actively seek to close down avoidance loopholes
@97ZSBF91yr1Y
Yes, and work with the EU and US to crack down on this internationally
@9JFLZDV3mos3MO
Only if the money is “hidden”, if the individual reports all money held overseas it should not be taxed.
@9CMCDL5Liberal Democrat10mos10MO
Yes if the evasion is wilful and substantial. Otherwise it is a waste of money
@9CLP6GT10mos10MO
Yes if the avoidance or evasion is wilful.
@9BTJW4S12mos12MO
Taxation is theft, abolish all taxes.
@999P9WK1yr1Y
Taxes are pointless and go to politicians parties like what boris did
@98MVPBX1yr1Y
just ask them to buss you a tenner then its calm
@98GB6F81yr1Y
Only if illegal and non transparent
@92ZZKFJConservative2yrs2Y
No, but make it harder to do.
If its avoidance you cannot prosecute, but regulations should be increased to prevent money being moved out of the country
@96T65VQ2yrs2Y
Yes. In cases where convictions are made all government expenses related to recovering the money should be paid for by the offender.
No. There could be a big reason behind this such as bankruptcy or large debt but they shouldn’t be required to live in the UK
@8YGGHN72yrs2Y
Yes, if they have broken the law. Crack down on tax loopholes.
@8X446MC2yrs2Y
This depends on the income of the individual
@8KJS9694yrs4Y
Yes, I would make sure people who are involved in a suspicious transaction indicating tax fraud would be under suspicion. However, I’d initially prevent this from happening by creating guidelines that are helpful in recognising potential tax fraud.
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