A few people have asked for a shorter summary of our piece on the Reform UK "Britannia card" proposal.

We've also updated our report with a full copy of the Reform UK paper. Quick thread: Reform UK have fallen into the trap of forgetting there are many different types of "non-doms":

Reform UK is proposing a "Britannia card" that would let wealthy foreigners pay a £250k fee to move to the UK, and live here exempt from all tax on their foreign assets.

What they don't say: it would cost the UK £34bn.

Thread: For many years someone moving to the UK was a "non-dom" - paying tax on UK income/assets but exempt from tax on foreign income/assets (unless they brought them into the UK).

40% of all corporation tax owed by small businesses isn't paid. How has this happened, without anyone noticing or caring?

Because nobody wants to talk about it.

These reactions to the latest HMRC tax gap figures are typical:
If you missed it, here's our report from yesterday on the latest HMRC data, with the astonishing 40% stat: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/06/19/the…

New data reveals that 40% of corporation tax due from small businesses isn’t being paid.

It’s a hidden crisis that costs the UK £15 billion a year — and HMRC has quietly lost control.

Thread. The "tax gap" is all the tax that should be paid, but isn't.

People wanting clicks and headlines claim most of the tax gap is the mega-wealthy and large corporations. People looking at the data know it's like this:

Just on Times Radio talking about the Green Party wealth tax proposal. The usual populist stuff about magically raising lots of money from Other People. But in reality the Green Party manifesto raised marginal income tax rate to *72%* for a graduate with three kids earning £60k. That's thanks to the interaction between the Green Party proposal to end the "cap" on national insurance contributions, and the existing rules for student loans and child benefit. Unclear the Green Party understood this. I wrote about the issue here: taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/06/07/gre…

Starmer is correct. We can't tax our way to growth.

But we can *tax reform* our way to growth. Some ideas: 1. Corporation tax simplification. The UK corporate tax system is currently less competitive than Italy or Greece, never mind Sweden and Denmark. ft.com/content/9a9515…

Our new report: local political parties are renting out office space to MPs — who claim the cost on expenses.

But in most cases, they pay no tax on that income — or on rent from local businesses.

We reviewed 630 sets of accounts. What we found is a systemic failure. 🧵 Our full report is here, with all the data, links to the accounts and the code we used to analyse everything. taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/05/11/pol…

Here's Gary Stevenson calling for a return to the 1970s, when the top rate of tax was 98%. But did the rich ever pay it?

We spoke to 1970s tax dodgers and ex-HMRC staff & and crunched the data.

A 🧵, but here's a spoiler: the rich pay more tax *now*. A much longer version of this thread is here, with references, links to sources and footnotes taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/05/08/tax…

ZLX — the R&D tax firm that sued a client for refusing to claim a £30k tax refund for installing a fridge — has quietly rebranded.

Meet TaxTek.

Same people. Same nonsense. New name.

🧵👇 Our new report: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/04/10/zlx…

Compelling article in yesterday's Telegraph on Frankie Dettori's fight to keep his tax avoidance secret. Not paywalled - recommended for anyone interested in tax/tax avoidance/horses

& I'm publishing below all the legal documents from Dettori's attempt to stay anonymous The Telegraph piece is here. It is really good - wish I'd written it. telegraph.co.uk/racing/2025/04…

Today might be the day Donald Trump slaps tariffs on UK goods — because he thinks VAT is a tariff. Yes, he's wrong. But the reason *why* he's wrong is surprisingly deep.

So here's a 🧵 on the nerdy detail of VAT: via beer, Jaffa Cakes and an economic theorem from 1936. Obviously I'm really here to promote my new Radio 4 series, Untaxing. The episode on Jaffa Cake airs at 1.45pm today.

I receive a tax rebate for every listener.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Just really disappointing to see someone repeating an internet myth on primetime TV without doing five seconds of research first.

The rule that applies the lower rate of stamp duty for purchases of six properties was introduced in 2003, when SDLT was created.

https://twitter.com/garyseconomics/status/1906723023102656583

We wrote about it last year. It's literally there in a Google search. taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/06/03/the…

Wow! A new tax grab on savers! How did I miss that?

Thread

(spoiler: I didn't. There is no "tax grab". Someone's got a bit too excited). The Telegraph is smushing together two announcements that accompanied the Spring Statement, and then jumping to an entertainingly paranoid conclusion.

t wasn't mentioned in the Chancellor's speech, but the Spring Statement papers contain a major suite of anti-tax avoidance proposals, probably the toughest ever introduced.

Thread: Longer version of this thread here, with full links to sources: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/26/rad…

Last week we launched a free webapp that shows the tens of thousands of UK companies whose ownership is being hidden, in most cases unlawfully.

It's now easier to use, faster, and has way more features. Quick thread. You can jump to the app and instructions here: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/19/500…

Excellent and detailed FT piece this week on the £100,000 "childcare trap".

If someone earns £99,999 and claims the Governments childcare subsidies, then a £1 pay rise can *cost them* £20,000. They don't get back to where they were until their gross wages reach £145k.

So in this situation it's not rational for someone just under £100k to accept a pay rise/promotion, work more hours, take on more clients etc, unless it puts them well clear of £100k

Millions of pounds now rest on whether large marshmallows are "normally eaten with the fingers". Thread. Historical accident means that food is 0% VAT, unless it's confectionary (20%), unless it's cake (0%), unless it's hot (20%).

So a millionaire's shortbread (cake) has less VAT than a chocolate biscuit (confectionary). This is, obviously, madness.

On Wednesday we published an interactive map showing the tens of thousands of UK companies hiding their beneficial owner. It's now updated - with filters and search functions.

In this thread I use it to uncover a truly shocking and unexpected case of hidden ownership. If you want to jump straight to the interactive map, it's here, together with a short article on the background: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/19/650…

Mone and Barrowman lied. They told an enormous fib - that they didn't own PPE Medpro - and then sent lawyers to threaten journalists who were exposing the fib.

I've no idea why they think anyone will believe this new statement. PPE Medpro was contracted to supply £200m of PPE to the Government. Barrowman/Mone sent a lawyer to threaten libel proceedings against anyone reporting they owned the company. Which was the truth.

To his credit, the lawyer apologised.

Two surprising entrants on HMRC's list of "deliberate tax defaulters" - people who deliberately didn't pay tax they knew was due (not because they couldn't afford it; because they just didn't want to pay it). Hasan Nawaz Sharif is the son of the former Pakistani prime minister. He failed to pay £9m.

This has been reported in the Pakistani press but not yet in the UK: tribune.com.pk/story/2535249/…

65,000 UK companies are unlawfully hiding their beneficial owner. We've just published an interactive map showing them all.

Thread: If you want to jump straight to the interactive map, it's here, together with a short article on the background: taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/03/19/650…