Tax dodgers need to be “named and shamed” by HMRC says the Public Accounts Committee chaired by Margaret Hodge. “We’ve got to simplify our tax system and I think naming and shaming not just of the sort-of Jimmy Carrs, but of these providers, these whizz kids, so that we know who they are, is powerful“. Her Committee reports that there is a  “game of cat and mouse and HMRC is losing”.

Well some fat cats put their shareholdings in family trusts to avoid inheritance taxes. Fat cats like Margaret Hodge…

The company share register for Stemcor shows that Hodge holds several million pounds worth of shareholdings in trusts, including for members of her family. Her family’s firm Stemcor confirmed that she has “shares held in trust or in her children’s names”. As Polly Toynbee helpfully explained, this is a clever way of minimising future inheritance tax liability:

“The big sell is trusts, special ones devised for this company’s clients, guaranteed to protect almost all your wealth from inheritance tax. They are right, it can be done easily. Put all moveables and all cash and investments into a discretionary trust, and it passes to your heirs without tax as soon as you die, not even waiting for probate. It counts as a gift so the beneficiaries need pay no tax either.”

Guido has challenged Hodge repeatedly over the last few months to explain the purpose of placing her Stemcor shareholdings in a trust other than to reduce the future inheritance tax liability of her relatives. She has yet to reply – what a shame…

See also: Hodge the Dodge Hypocrisy in Full