WIREDGOV

Union launches radical report on tackling public debt

Yesterday the Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) - the union representing senior staff in HM Revenue and Customs - has launched a hard-hitting report on tackling the spending deficit. The paper - Being Bold: a Radical Approach to Raising Revenue and Reducing the Deficit - suggests that the Government has been asking the wrong question when assessing where cuts should fall.

Graham Black, ARC President, said:

"When looking at the one department that raises money - HMRC - the question should not be 'What can you cut?', but rather 'What can you contribute?'.

"Being Bold makes it clear that additional resources for HMRC could significantly reduce the deficit by targeting tax cheats.

"Every tax cheat is putting additional costs on the law-abiding many. The Government needs options on how to ease the pain of solving the deficit problem, and ARC members can provide those options."

The report says that for every additional pound spent on HMRC, the Government could bring in at least £30 - a return any commercial organisation would readily take advantage of.

Being Bold will be launched today, 8 September, at a lunchtime meeting in Westminster arranged by ARC for MPs - to outline the case for closing the tax gap.

Notes for editors

1. The Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) is a union representing senior staff in HM Revenue and Customs, including tax inspectors, accountants, lawyers, managers and other leading professionals. It is also a section of the FDA.

2. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 18,000 of the UK's senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.

3. The FDA (formerly the First Division Association) should be referred to simply as "The FDA" and can be described as "the senior public servants' union".

4. Read ARC's report, Being Bold.

5. For further information contact:

Graham Black, ARC President, tel: 020 7401 5559 or 07766 497976.

Debbie Stamper, ARC officer, tel: 020 7401 5555.

Graham Flew, ARC officer, tel: 020 7401 5555.