Osborne steps back from Lib Dem stance on avoidance
Chancellor attacks evasion but holds back from following Lib Dem assault on avoidance
George Osborne
Reform of child benefit may have dominated healines Tory chancellor George
Osborne has also distanced hisself from the outspoken attacks on tax avoidance
and evasion launched by Business Secretary Vince Cable, Chief Treasury Secretary
Danny Alexander and party leader Nick Clegg at the Liberal Democrat conference.
Osborne declared: “We will not tolerate tax evasion. It is unacceptable at
the best times; it too is morally indefensible in times like these. And this
party will not stand for it. So we will demand that the richest in our society
bear their share of the burden.”
But he made no mention of “avoidance” and the issue has not been seized on at
the Tory Party conference in Birmingham.
Osborne did however trumpet his determination to ensure a permanent tax on
banks “because it is fair that they help clear up the mess they did so much to
create”.
He made it clear in his keynote speech: “We will not allow money to flow
impeded out of those banks into huge bonuses, if that means money is not flowing
out incredit to the small businesses who did nothing to cause this crash and
suffered most in it.”
Read more:
Child
benefit reform puts pressure on HMRC