British Prime Minister David Cameron will say on Monday that new legislation making companies criminally liable if employees aid tax evasion will be introduced this year, as he seeks to repair the damage from a week of questions about his personal finances.
Cameron published tax records on Sunday to try and defuse criticism over his handling of the fallout from the Panama Papers, in which his late father was mentioned for setting up an offshore fund.
After four carefully-worded statements in four days, Cameron bowed to pressure and admitted that he had benefitted from selling his share in his father’s fund in 2010. He recognised on Saturday that he had mishandled the disclosure.
The Prime Minister will attempt to regain the upper hand when he appears in the House of Commons later on Monday.
The plan had already been announced by UK Finance Minister George Osborne in March 2015, but previously the commitment was to introduce the legislation by 2020, Downing Street said.
The decision to speed up that particular measure is unlikely to satisfy Cameron’s many critics in opposition parties and in some campaign groups that say Britain already has the tools it needs to crack down on tax evasion but lacks the will.
The government rejects that, saying it has brought in more than 2 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) from offshore tax evaders since 2010 and has established a registry of company beneficial ownership information due to become public in June this year.
The furore over his own finances has come at a particularly bad time for Cameron, who is due to host a global anti-corruption summit in London on 12 May.
He has also been struggling with deep divisions in his Conservative Party over EU membership, and the government has been embarrassed by a senior minister’s resignation, a u-turn on welfare cuts and a crisis in the British steel industry it has failed to resolve.
The documents disclosed by Downing Street on Sunday, from RNS Chartered Accountants, show Cameron paid tax of 75,898 pounds on income of 200,307 pounds in the 2014-2015 financial year, the most recent one included. ($1 = 0.7080 pounds)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)