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  Take from the poor, but not the rich: Tax authorities accused of 'siding' with big business over small firms and individuals
  
  HMRC 'holds back' from pursuing big avoiders, says Commons committee, and public pays the price
  
  Britain's tax authorities are accused by Parliament today of not being "on the side" of individuals and small firms who pay their fair share of money to the Government.
  
  In a highly critical report, Westminster's spending watchdog claims officials are "holding back" from using legal sanctions to recover money from large companies which use aggressive schemes to minimise their tax bills.
  
  As a result the public at large is being forced to shoulder more of the burden of paying for public services while it has become "easier" for companies to avoid paying their way. The Public Accounts Committee said that despite countless pledges to crack down on tax avoidance, HMRC actually collected less tax in real terms last year than it did in 2011-12. At the same time the "tax gap" between what HMRC estimated it was owed last year and what it actually collected rose by £1bn to £35bn.
  
  The committee urged HMRC to be much more willing to pursue prosecutions against large businesses and rich individuals who use loopholes illegitimately to minimise their tax bill, or who knowingly mislead HMRC or withhold information.
  
  And it strongly criticised the organisation for overestimating by £2.5bn the amount of money it expected to collect from a deal with the Swiss authorities to tackle offshore tax evasion.
  
  "We were astonished that HMRC could not give any reasons for such a shortfall," the committee's chairman Margaret Hodge said.
  Full story Independent.

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