By James Salmon
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Barclays has come out swinging after it was ordered to pay back half a billion pounds amid accusations of tax-dodging.
In February, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke accused an unnamed lender of using two ‘highly abusive’ and ‘aggressive’ schemes to hide money from the taxman, and announced that the Government was taking the unusual step of using retrospective legislation to close the loopholes.
Although Barclays was not named, it was quickly identified as the bank in question.
Yesterday the Treasury Select Committee demanded a response from the Treasury and HM Revenue Customs in a letter to Chancellor George Osborne. It is investigating a complaint made by Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond that the bank has been ‘singled out’ and unfairly exposed, breaching strict confidentiality agreements between HMRC and taxpayers.
A source added that Barclays felt it had been the victim of a ‘political mugging’ by the Chancellor.
Diamond argued the lender did not breach any tax rules, and added that other companies used the same schemes to trim their bills.
In a letter written earlier this month but published yesterday, he also pointed out Barclays had voluntarily disclosed the schemes to HMRC.
‘We were therefore surprised to be singled out in the way that occurred; not only through a retroactive change of law, but the effective naming of Barclays by the Exchequer Secretary in his statement to Parliament, accusing the bank of entering into a “highly abusive†scheme,’ he said.
Diamond described the retrospective clampdown as ‘completely unwarranted’ and argued that ‘unnecessary damage’ was caused to his company’s reputation.
An insider said: ‘I think they feel like they’ve been the victim of a political mugging and that they were used by the Government. They would gladly have paid the money rather than taking reputational hit.’
Last week a report from the Public Accounts Committee estimated tax evasion costs the economy £35bn a year.
HMRC was accused by the same committee last December of striking cosy deals with big businesses such as Vodafone and Goldman Sachs.
Osborne has ordered HMRC to collect an extra £17bn this year from catching out tax cheats.
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The people have not had their revenge on the banks by a long way . I want to see them smashed, nothing less will do, and I'll put up with any hard times
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Well done, about time these money grabbing sharks were caught. Time has come to execute the greed in the UK.
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My Heart is Bleeding
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How about getting retrospective tax from Amazon, Google, Vodaphone and Arcadia as well.
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