Horrifying £11.8bn In Uncollected VAT

9.08.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 28th Apr 2004

Lib Dem Shadow Treasury Minister Norman Lamb has criticised the Treasury for the huge amount of VAT still going uncollected as revealed in today's hearing of the Treasury Select Committee.

"Cracking down on tax evasion should be a top priority for the proposed merged revenue collection department", said Mr Lamb. In answer to questions from Norman Lamb, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Gus O' Donnell revealed the extent of tax properly due but left uncollected.

"The evidence we heard of the so-called "tax gap" of £11.9 billion in uncollected VAT which is properly due is horrifying", said Norman Lamb. "The burden inevitably falls on the honest tax-payer."

"We were assured that a merged department would be more effective in reducing this tax gap", Mr Lamb added. "They must now demonstrate that they can deliver on this."