The Chancellor did not give details of any specific new measures but reiterated that the Government would continue their "ruthless pursuit of tax evasion" and" take new measures to collect even more" tax. "When it comes to the richest, the first place I will look is to those who are still not paying the taxes we expect them to pay today," he said.
“The Chancellor’s renewed focus on tax avoidance and evasion is not surprising," Jason Collins, a tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said. "The Government has already set HMRC a very demanding set of compliance targets to hit.”
“The problem for the Government is that they need to focus on more effective management of known avoidance and evasion problems rather than introduce new legislation or go after new types of evasion and avoidance. For example, it takes nearly a decade to challenge alleged avoidance through the tribunal system. Besides, new cases of avoidance and evasion have declined recently.”
The Chancellor stated that the government are already collecting £4bn more a year from those who avoid or evade tax.
He confirmed that there would be no wealth tax and that a so-called 'mansion tax' on the value of people's homes would not be introduced. "It would be sold as a Mansion Tax," he said. "But once the tax inspector had his foot in the door you'd soon find most homes in the country labelled a 'mansion'."
The ‘mansion tax' was originally proposed by Vince Cable. It was a suggested annual tax at a rate of 1% or 2% of a property's value above a threshold of £2m.
However the Chancellor made it clear that the wealthiest in society should bear the greatest tax burden. He said "those with the most should contribute the most."