Tax dodging and non-compliance during the pandemic cost the UK government £9 billion ($11 billion) as thousands of tax compliance staff were redeployed to COVID-19 support schemes, a government spending watchdog has found.
According to the latest report by the National Audit Office (NAO), released on Dec. 16, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has raised around £9 billion less in tax revenue from its compliance activity since the pandemic began in 2020, compared with its historic performance.
Before the pandemic, tax revenues from compliance activity were on average 5.2 percent of total revenues. This reduced to 5 percent in 2020–2021, a £1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) reduction. It then fell further to 4.2 percent in 2021–2022, which amounted to a further reduction of £7.5 billion ($9.1 billion)….