How Tackling Tax Evasion Could Help Overcome Poverty in the UK

The equivalent of nearly £200 per household is being lost through illegal tax evasion, as 220,000 people in the UK are forced to go to charity foodbanks, according to this Oxfam media briefing. Whilst many people in the UK are submitting their tax returns today, new figures from Oxfam reveal that illegal tax evasion by some of the country’s wealthiest people is depriving the UK economy of £5.2 billion a year. Chris Johnes, Oxfam's Director of UK poverty said: "It is sickening and immoral that tax evaders get off scot-free whilst thousands of the poorest families are being forced to go to charity foodbanks in order to provide a meal, or go without heating when it’s freezing outside."