My good (tax) man Richard Murphy points out the following inconsistency…
Word is that it costs more to fight benefit fraud than benefit fraud actually costs.
This is compared to:
The whole of HM Revenue & Customs’ tax collection activity cost £5 billion to run in 2006-07 (page 32). It collected £423 billion.
We know there is a substantial tax gap though (and I will publish more on this soon – but take this for starters). So where would the £106 million of resource have been better spent? On benefit fraud or tax collection? And since it was obviously the latter, why is it HM Revenue & Customs that is having the staff cuts?
To reiterate:
The government spends more on tracking benefit fraud than it manages to uncover, an official report suggests.
The National Audit Office found that £154m spent on Department for Work and Pensions schemes in 2006/07 had found just £106m of fraudulent claims.
“The department is spending £1.50 to identify every £1 of overpayments,” the report suggested.
