Unpaid taxes rose by £5billion in Nadhim Zahawi's three months as chancellor
The value of unpaid taxes grew by almost £5billion during Nadhim Zahawi’s brief stint as Chancellor.
The Liberal Democrats, who uncovered the figures, accused the Tories of "allowing eye-watering amounts of taxes to go unpaid" whilst the "underfunded" NHS struggles to cope.
HMRC data shows that the value of unpaid taxes owed grew to a whopping £47billion in the three months between July and September 2022.
This is an increase of £4.9 billion on the previous quarter - the equivalent of £54million a day.
This would be enough to pay for around 150,000 more nurses or over 33,000 more doctors. Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “This Conservative government is allowing eye-watering amounts of taxes to go unpaid while our local health services are left desperately underfunded and overstretched.
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“Families around the country who work hard and play by the rules will be rightly furious to see billions of pounds in taxes being poured down the drain.
Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney accused the Tories of failing to do enough to collect taxes (PA)“It’s little wonder the Conservatives are failing to crack down on those failing to pay their fair share, when Nadhim Zahawi spent his time as chancellor negotiating his own settlement with HMRC.
“Every day brings a steady drip drip of sleaze and scandal, while families pay the price for this endless Conservative chaos.”
Boris Johnson appointed Mr Zahawi as chancellor in July last year as he desperately fought to cling onto his job. When Liz Truss became PM in September, she moved him to a role in the Cabinet Office.
During his time at the Treasury, former businessman Mr Zahawi paid a settlement, thought to have been around £5million, to the taxman to end a dispute over his bill.
It included a reported penalty for not paying the right amount to start with.
HMRC boss Jim Harra suggested Nadhim Zahawi has not made an 'innocent error' in his tax affairs (Parliament TV)The PM has ordered his ethics adviser to look into the matter, including whether the minister has told the truth about the matter. Despite the probe he has been allowed to remain in post.
The head of HMRC this morning suggested Mr Zahawi has not made an “innocent error” in his tax affairs.
Jim Harra told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee this morning that “there are no penalties for innocent errors in your tax affairs”.
He said: “I am not commenting on any particular person’s affairs but carelessness is a concept in tax law. It can be relevant to how many back years that we can assess and it can be relevant to whether someone is liable to a penalty and if so, what penalty they will be liable to for an error in their tax affairs.
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“There are no penalties for innocent errors in your tax affairs. So if you take reasonable care, but nevertheless make a mistake, whilst you will be liable for the tax and for interest if it’s paid late, you would not be liable for a penalty.
“But if your error was as a result of carelessness, then legislation says that a penalty could apply in those circumstances.”
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