6:48PM, Mon Jun 25, 2012

HMRC Strike: Jimmy Carr Inspires Thousands To Walk Out

By Joe Daunt Location: Longbenton

Jimmy Carr: The PCS Union Claims His Tax Is A Case In Point

Thousands of staff at the Ministry in Longbenton have been striking against cuts which their union claims will undermine efforts to clamp down on tax avoidance.

Around 7,000 members of the PCS union based at the site took part in a nationwide walkout to protest at 10,000 job cuts at HM Revenue and Customs. Staff at the Washington offices on Wearside were also involved in the action.

The strike meant offices were closed and telephone calls went unanswered.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) claims the job losses, on top of 30,000 that have gone since the department was formed in 2005, will make it more difficult to prevent the kind of tax avoidance schemes used by comedian Jimmy Carr.

The PCS estimates £120 billion is lost every year because of tax evasion and avoidance because it claims the HMRC does not have sufficient resources to collect what is owed.

In response to reports about Jimmy Carr's use of the K2 scheme to avoid paying income tax on earnings, Prime Minister David Cameron described tax avoidance as "morally wrong".

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "It is sickening to see millionaires in the cabinet wringing their hands about the immorality of tax avoidance when it is their lack of political will to act that means we lose tens of billions of pounds every year.

"The case for investment in our public services as an alternative to austerity could not be more obvious than it is in HMRC.

"Yet the government wants to cut 10,000 more jobs from the department, letting the wealthy tax dodgers off the hook and punishing the rest of us for a recession we did not cause."

An HM Revenue & Customs spokesman said: "HMRC is disappointed with the decision to strike and will do everything it can to maintain services to the public. We are seeking dialogue with the PCS to address their concerns and will work to minimise any disruption to our customers.

"In our 2010 spending review the Government made £917m available to us to tackle avoidance, evasion and fraud.

"This is being used to increase our tax take from compliance work by £7bn a year in 2014/15 which we are on target to do.

"Last year alone we increased the yield from our compliance work to £13.9bn."

The walkout is being followed by ongoing industrial action short of a strike including refusal to work overtime, which the PCS claims is used to mask the effect of staffing cuts.