Name and shame tax dodgers, say MPs

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) should "name and shame" those who create, sell or use tax avoidance schemes to discourage activity which is costing the Treasury billions of pounds a year, a committee of MPs has said.

Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, has promised that the government will crack down on tax avoidance schemes after it emerged that £5bn was lost to tax avoidance in the financial year ending 2011. "It is a game of cat and mouse and HMRC is losing," she said. Hodge said the promoters of such schemes - which abuse legal loopholes to avoid paying tax - and those who use them are "running rings" around HMRC. "The complexity of tax law creates opportunities for avoidance, there are no penalties to stop people promoting these schemes, and HMRC is ineffective in chall...