- Jan 8, 2011
- 22,361
George Osborne's new powers allowing the taxman to raid Britons' bank accounts for money that officials believe is owed without a court order has been branded "wholly unacceptable" by an influential group of MPs.
The cross-party Commons Treasury committee said it had "considerable concern" over the chancellor's proposed debt collection powers for HM Revenue and Customs and called for further scrutiny. This comes as accountants warned that the plan leaves HMRC "judge and jury" on potential raids on bank accounts.
In the committee's report on this year's Budget, the MPs said: "The proposal to grant HMRC the power to recover money directly from taxpayers' bank accounts is of considerable concern to the committee. The committee considers a lengthy and full consultation to be essential.
"Giving HMRC this power without some form of prior independent oversight -for example by a new ombudsman or tribunal, or through the courts - would be wholly unacceptable."
Around 17,000 people will have their accounts raided each year by officials, HMRC said.
The cross-party Commons Treasury committee said it had "considerable concern" over the chancellor's proposed debt collection powers for HM Revenue and Customs and called for further scrutiny. This comes as accountants warned that the plan leaves HMRC "judge and jury" on potential raids on bank accounts.
In the committee's report on this year's Budget, the MPs said: "The proposal to grant HMRC the power to recover money directly from taxpayers' bank accounts is of considerable concern to the committee. The committee considers a lengthy and full consultation to be essential.
"Giving HMRC this power without some form of prior independent oversight -for example by a new ombudsman or tribunal, or through the courts - would be wholly unacceptable."
Around 17,000 people will have their accounts raided each year by officials, HMRC said.