Are 'cash in hand' payments morally wrong?
An MP says that cash in hand payments cost the Government money and that everyone else pays more as a result. Do you agree?
Treasury Minister David Gauke has told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that it is "morally wrong" for people to pay builders, plumbers and other tradespeople in cash.
The implicit accusation in his comments appears to be that anyone who accepts cash in hand is doing so to avoid paying VAT and income tax, keeping parts of their business ‘off the books’.
The Government estimates that it loses around £2 billion a year to this type of tax evasion. Mr Gauke said the real problem was households conspiring with tradespeople to get a discount if they pay with cash.
His comments are the latest in a long line from ministers as they try to clamp down on both tax evasion and tax avoidance.
What do you think of Mr Gauke's comments? Is it "morally wrong" to pay people in cash? Vote in our poll below.
And have your say in the Comments box below.
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Comments
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Taxes on earned incomes are what is morally wrong. What is the difference between people paying for each other's services with money and exchanging the services for benefits in kind?
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Well I see from the votes that only 10% of the people polled here want the Builders/Gardeners/Plumbers/Carpenters/electricians and handymen to pay tax. "Everyone pays tax", what a much generised statement, when in fact sum do and most do not and those that do are the one's in the ring fence of PAYE, or put another way, those that are caught in the net. The rest, Businessmen/women, self employed and migrants pay as little as possible, some paying zilch! So, what's right and what's wrong, well, listen to the goverment and they would tell you one story and if you listen to that poor builder he will tell you another, but the bottom line here is that life is "never going to be fair", so get used to it and suck it up. I am of the opinion that if every man,woman,child and foriegn undeclared grey import, yes, I mean you the one taking cash and should'nt be here working in the UK at all - it would not make any difference to a single one of us. The Goverment would continue to squeeze and suck as much as they could from us, crying that the Health Service or some Train Company needed to rip out it's engines and spend a Billion pounds to run on electric or we needed to lend the Eurozone money or some other important item like decorating an MP's second home. I spent a decade dealing with local Authorities and Goverment and the one thing I do know is their take on money - it's not their's and they do part with it so easily. I close by going back to the original question, does anyone think they get a discount by paying in cash, are people realy that deluded? Baaa for now. mr.spence Property Developer
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It is morally wrong for an MP, or the PM, to try and sting his rich mates when he can pass the burden on to the common man. After all, MPs rely on their rich mates to fund their election campaigns for them, so they are hardly going to penalise the very people who help them on to the gravy train. Sorry to be so cynical, but that is how it appears to this common man.
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11 January 2013