Taxman using terror laws 15 times a day to spy on suspects


Steve Doughty
UK Daily Mail
Tuesday , January 12th, 2010


Taxmen are using anti-terror laws 15 times a day to snoop on those suspected of minor breaches of the rules, it was claimed yesterday.

Officials at Revenue and Customs began more than 5,600 investigations last year that relied on Labour's controversial surveillance laws.

Figures given to MPs yesterday show the number of cases in which taxmen have used the anti-terror powers has risen by 75 per cent in the past four years.

The Revenue claims the powers are used only in cases where people are suspected of importing drugs, arms and other contraband, or in major VAT fraud investigations.

But critics accused the body of using the laws to investigate minor breaches of income tax, VAT or tax credit rules.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act allows public sector officials to watch or follow individuals and use spies to inform on them.

The law has already been frequently used by councils, often on the most slender of pretexts.

One couple were spied on over suspicions they were cheating on school catchment rules, while others have been followed over littering or dog fouling.

Critics claimed taxmen had also been using the powers to snoop on taxpayers and small businesses, which must pay VAT if their turnover reaches £68,000.

Revenue and Customs is also responsible for policing the £20billion a year paid out through the tax credit system of benefits.

Tory communities spokesman Caroline Spelman said: 'We already knew that Labour's tax inspectors are spying on family homes to prepare for a painful council tax revaluation.

'Now it is clear that the tax officials are using anti-terror powers to spy on the personal tax affairs of hard-working families anything up to 15 times a day.

'Labour's surveillance laws are routinely being abused and overused by town hall officials and quangos, turning Britain into a Stasi state.'

Alex Deane of the anti-surveillance pressure group Big Brother Watch said: 'The widespread abuse of the law by councils has shown us how carefully we must look at the way these powers are used.

'The extent of the use of RIPA by Revenue and Customs suggests that many individual taxpayers have been snooped on without their knowledge.'

He added: 'Readers of the Mail who see this news today might rightly wonder who has been watching them.'

Some 653 state bodies, including 474 councils, have the right to spy using anti-terror laws.

However, Revenue and Customs officials already have full criminal investigation powers.

These allow them to demand information from individuals, obtain search warrants, make arrests, and search homes, offices and suspects after arrest.

Such powers are used widely against criminal gangs, fraudsters and those who lie to avoid tax.

But the latest figures show the agency used anti-terror powers as well from the moment it took over from the old HM Customs and Excise department in 2005.

Officials applied 3,201 times to use RIPA powers in 2006, rising steadily to 5,633 last year.

An indicator that not all cases involved suspected major crime was that on 141 investigations senior Revenue officials denied their investigators the right to use RIPA surveillance.

Concern over the extent of spying by taxmen follows the start by Revenue and Customs of a campaign against 'white collar' tax evaders. Medical professionals are being targeted and urged to confess undeclared freelance income.

Lawyers and accountants earning more than £100,000 a year are likely to be next in line in a campaign that will mean discounted penalties for those who offer to pay up but heavy fines and prosecution for those who do not.

Revenue officials said yesterday that RIPA powers were used only to investigate serious crime and large-scale VAT fraud.

A spokesman said that surveillance had been used to check on suspected drug and arms importers.

The duty of checking drug and arms smuggling was handed over to the UK Borders Agency last month.

The spokesman added that Revenue and Customs 'works within the established safeguards and when using the powers granted under RIPA, properly addresses the requirements of both necessity and proportionality.

'No allegation about HMRC's potential misuse of RIPA has been upheld.'