SUPPORT TOMORROW'S
HMRC Strike for jobs, services and Tax Fairness
HM
Revenue and Customs PCS members in Stoke will join more than
55,000 revenue staff nationwide in a strike on Monday (25)
over massive cuts that will seriously undermine any efforts to clamp
down on the kind of tax avoidance schemes used by comedian Jimmy
Carr.
The
industrial action in all HM Revenue and Customs offices in the UK is
over the government’s plan to axe a further 10,000 HMRC jobs, on
top of 30,000 that have gone since the department was formed in 2005.
It
will mean face to face tax offices will be closed and calls to
telephone enquiry lines will go unanswered. In
response to reports about Jimmy Carr’s use of the ‘K2′ scheme
to avoid paying income tax on earnings, prime minister David Cameron
yesterday described tax avoidance as “morally wrong”.
The
union, which represents more than three-quarters of HMRC staff, says
that as well as “wringing their hands” about the morality of tax
avoidance, ministers have the power to do something about it,
starting with an immediate halt to the job cuts.
An
estimated £120 billion is lost every year because of tax evasion and
avoidance – largely by very wealthy individuals and
organisations – and because the department does not have sufficient
resources to collect what is owed.
The
strike is also in opposition to creeping privatisation in HMRC, as
the department is currently spending £4
million on a year-long trial using two private companies to handle
tax credit enquiries.
The
strike will be followed by ongoing industrial action short of a
strike, meaning staff refusing to do overtime because it is used to
mask the effect of staffing cuts.
*
Please support Picket line at Blackburn House, Hanley *
(between
the Albion pub and B&M)
DEMAND
TAX FAIRNESS
-
support
the strike on 25/06/12
A
VICTORY FOR ONE WORKER IS A VICTORY FOR ALL WORKERS!
