Official figures suggest that HM Revenue & Customs inspectors are increasingly using controversial regulations to monitor people they suspect are not paying their fair share of tax. According to a parliamentary answer, 5,492 requests were granted to Revenue officers to check on people under the Regulation of Investigative Powers Act 2000, reports The Daily Telegraph. The figure is an 80% increase in just four years. The figures also show that the overwhelming majority of requests to use the RIPA legislation were granted. Caroline Spelman, the shadow communities secretary, said: 'We already knew that Labour's tax inspectors are spying on family homes to prepare for a painful council tax revaluation. Now it is clear that the tax officials are using anti-terror powers to spy on the personal tax affairs of hard-working families anything up to 15 times a day.' Treasury minister Stephen Timms said the figures would have included some applications for drugs and arms smuggling spying operations which were now taken up by two other government agencies. An HMRC spokesman said: 'RIPA provides a number of important safeguards. It strictly limits the people who can lawfully use covert techniques, the purposes and conditions in which they can be used and how the material can be handled.' The spokesman added: 'There is also an independent tribunal that looks into complaints from members of the public about misuse of RIPA powers by public authorities. No allegation about HMRC's potential misuse of RIPA has been upheld.'