Answers to Quick Quiz Questions
Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:40 am
Well Boys and Girls,
In response to the usual suspects giving the unemployed a quick kicking (so satisfying when you have had a bad day at work), I challenged forumites to answer the questions below.
As expected I got no answers. It's so much easier to have a programmed reflex reaction to hammer the unemployed rather than attempt to get some understanding of what are the real issues here in the UK affecting the overall tax take. Spewing out ill-informed prejudice is so much easier than using your brain!
So answers below:
What is the government's own estimate of the total yearly value of benefit fraud in the UK?
?1.5 billion.
Cameron stated earlier this year ""We need to do more to stop (benefit) fraud ? ?1.5bn of hard earned taxpayers' money is being stolen from the taxpayer"
Given that this statement was part of an initiative to crack down on benefit fraud, there was absolutely no incentive on his part to underestimate this figure.
To balance this it is worth pointing out the Citizens Advice Bureau response,which highlighted 2008/09 Government figures, released June 2010: ?12.7bn unclaimed means tested benefits plus ?5bn unclaimed tax credits. The CAB put this down to the huge complexity of the benefit system which is too much for many people to get their heads around.
What is the estimate of the total yearly value of tax evasion in the UK?
?15.2 bn
The National Fraud Authority which is a government body run by Baroness Scotland came up with the figure of ?15.2 bn for tax evasion and ?1.1. bn (less than Cameron's figure) for benefit fraud.
Note that the figure of ?15.2 bn does not include the dodgy tax avoidance schemes of the like that Murdoch follows where you set up hundreds of offshore companies and move the money around in breathtakingly complex structures to take advantage of tax loopholes. If it did the figure would be far, far higher than ?15.2 bn per year.
How much has HM Revenue and Customs spent on advertising for the purposes of preventing tax evasion last year?
?633, 284 excluding VAT was spent in 2009.
The answer came from the government in response to a parliamentary question.
How much the Department of Work and Pensions budgeted for advertising tackling benefit fraud last year?
?5 million excluding VAT was spent in 2009. The answer came from the government in response to a parliamentary question.
So very roughly 15 times as much is lost to the Treasury through tax evasion as is lost to benefit fraud. And that doesn't include the vast amounts lost through dodgy tax avoidance schemes. Meanwhile, very roughly 10 times as much money is spent on advertising the downside of benefit fraud compared to tax evasion.
It's the rich wot gets the money. It's the poor wot gets the blame.
Remember those forumites who like to give the unemployed a kicking (you know who you are) it's never too late to start using your brain!!!
Cheers
David
In response to the usual suspects giving the unemployed a quick kicking (so satisfying when you have had a bad day at work), I challenged forumites to answer the questions below.
As expected I got no answers. It's so much easier to have a programmed reflex reaction to hammer the unemployed rather than attempt to get some understanding of what are the real issues here in the UK affecting the overall tax take. Spewing out ill-informed prejudice is so much easier than using your brain!
So answers below:
What is the government's own estimate of the total yearly value of benefit fraud in the UK?
?1.5 billion.
Cameron stated earlier this year ""We need to do more to stop (benefit) fraud ? ?1.5bn of hard earned taxpayers' money is being stolen from the taxpayer"
Given that this statement was part of an initiative to crack down on benefit fraud, there was absolutely no incentive on his part to underestimate this figure.
To balance this it is worth pointing out the Citizens Advice Bureau response,which highlighted 2008/09 Government figures, released June 2010: ?12.7bn unclaimed means tested benefits plus ?5bn unclaimed tax credits. The CAB put this down to the huge complexity of the benefit system which is too much for many people to get their heads around.
What is the estimate of the total yearly value of tax evasion in the UK?
?15.2 bn
The National Fraud Authority which is a government body run by Baroness Scotland came up with the figure of ?15.2 bn for tax evasion and ?1.1. bn (less than Cameron's figure) for benefit fraud.
Note that the figure of ?15.2 bn does not include the dodgy tax avoidance schemes of the like that Murdoch follows where you set up hundreds of offshore companies and move the money around in breathtakingly complex structures to take advantage of tax loopholes. If it did the figure would be far, far higher than ?15.2 bn per year.
How much has HM Revenue and Customs spent on advertising for the purposes of preventing tax evasion last year?
?633, 284 excluding VAT was spent in 2009.
The answer came from the government in response to a parliamentary question.
How much the Department of Work and Pensions budgeted for advertising tackling benefit fraud last year?
?5 million excluding VAT was spent in 2009. The answer came from the government in response to a parliamentary question.
So very roughly 15 times as much is lost to the Treasury through tax evasion as is lost to benefit fraud. And that doesn't include the vast amounts lost through dodgy tax avoidance schemes. Meanwhile, very roughly 10 times as much money is spent on advertising the downside of benefit fraud compared to tax evasion.
It's the rich wot gets the money. It's the poor wot gets the blame.
Remember those forumites who like to give the unemployed a kicking (you know who you are) it's never too late to start using your brain!!!
Cheers
David