The cost of unjustified tax breaks to business and wealthy landowners continues to soar, new figures show

The cost of tax breaks awarded by the government to businesses and the already wealthy continued to soar in 2018, according to new figures released on the same day that millions will file their tax returns.

Figures from the HMRC released today show billions were awarded in tax breaks for ‘entrepreneurs’ and already wealthy landowners, despite public services in the UK continuing to be affected by austerity.
Tax Justice UK Executive Director, Robert Palmer, said: “Many of the reliefs are simply giveaways to companies and the wealthy. HMRC rarely looks at whether they are good value for money and are actually doing what they are meant to.”

Just two tax giveaways that need to be re-examined include:
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• Entrepreneurs tax relief: some lucky business owners scooped a £2.4 billion gift from the government in 2018. The relief, dubbed the UK’s “worst tax break", has cost more than £24 billion since it was introduced. The relief rarely stimulates new entrepreneurial activity, and the government’s own research has shown little evidence it encourages new investment;
• Inheritance tax relief on agricultural land is becoming harder to justify too. At £365 million in 2018 it’s questionable whether the relief is anything more than a bung to already rich families.
  

Robert Palmer said: “Many of these reliefs are simply giveaways to companies and the wealthy. HMRC rarely looks at whether they are good value for money and are actually doing what they are meant to.”

“As millions of people across the UK file their tax returns, many will be appalled at the levels of tax breaks doled out. While some of these reliefs are sensible, there are still billions of pounds spent on unjustified giveaways to the wealth and big companies, which make little, or no, economic sense.”

ENDS
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Notes to editors:
Details of the costs of tax reliefs given out last financial year are available here.

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