As the main parties promise not to raise the big three taxes, HMRC will need to smarten up how they work, use AI and reduce taxpayer errors unless massive funding for new tax investigators is agreed
As political parties vie to gain votes, the Conservatives and Labour have both indicated that they will not raise income tax, national insurance or VAT for average households.
The no tax rise pledge means that many election promises are going to be funded by politicians’ throwaway comments on raising £5bn to £10bn by clamping down on tax avoidance.
There are some potential wins if HMRC was able to reduce the level of errors and mistakes on individuals’ tax returns, while a new cryptoassets disclosure scheme is bound to raise significant sums if only because the guidance is so confusing for taxpayers.
One of the biggest causes of the tax gap is small businesses, which could be given more support to get their tax affairs right, while the quality of online information on the HMRC website could be improved, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) could create a minefield of data for tax inspectors.
