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Flashman and Ossie paying lip service to tackling tax avoidance.
Revealed: 'Sweetheart' tax deals each worth over £1bn
: Four corporations that reached settlements worth £4.5bn between them are among
those let off lightly
A document sent by Dave Hartnett, the ex-head of tax at HMRC, to the exchequer secretary
at the Treasury, describes the tax deals. Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian
The scale of the government's "sweetheart" tax deals - individual secret agreements drawn up
between tax officials and corporations to settle disputes - can be revealed for the first time after
previously unseen documents showed that just four settlements were worth £4.5bn between them.
A leaked document sent by Dave Hartnett, the former head of tax at HM Revenue and Customs
(HMRC), to David Gauke, the exchequer secretary at the Treasury, discloses the figure, which
has not been released by HMRC before on the grounds of preserving "taxpayer confidentiality".
The document describes deals in excess of £1bn as "not uncommon". The size of the figure
has been seized upon by MPs and tax campaigners who want HMRC to release details of how
much tax was owed by each of the four unnamed companies before the deals were struck.
Margaret Hodge, the chair of the Commons public accounts committee, said: "If we got £4.5bn
in, how much did we not get? That is what taxpayers will want to know, and I'll be raising this
with HMRC through the committee.