I know this will get blown up into some massive number but think for a moment:
British clients of an HSBC-owned private Swiss bank that is the focus of a major HM Revenue & Customs investigation are alleged to have evaded tax by an amount likely to exceed £200m, the Observer has learned.
Note that this is not the sum for one year. I’ll assume, just because it’s necessary to assume something, it’s for a decade. £20 million a year then as against what, £500 billion the government takes?
0.004%.
It may well be illegal, naughty, immoral and all the rest. But it’s not a significant number.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Richard Gadsden // Jul 29, 2012 at 8:11 pm
If this is typical of hundreds or thousands of other small private banks owned by majors, then it is significant. Of course, there’s no evidence that this is typical
I do think part of this is that people assume that “they’re all at it”….
2 Johnson // Jul 30, 2012 at 8:34 am
The Tax Fuckwit Network will find some way to make those numbers sing, don’t you worry.
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