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I think what for me, the legions been taken off today is the involvement of the banks. We…not the banks weren’t sort of innocent by-standers in this, they were actually aggressive protagonists1. So they were not just helping2 people to avoid and evade3 paying their tax, they were advising people on how to avoid and evade paying the tax. And I think a new issue that emerges for me, is that we shouldn’t go after, just go after the individuals. I think Steven Green has got really important questions to answer. But I think we should be looking at HSBC as well. I think it undermines our trust in banks, and there are other countries that are taking HSBC to court of this. We too should defend our taxpayers4 and look at whether or not HSBC shouldn’t be brought to account in the courts.
Why do you think, as you describe there, Ms. Hodge, that our authority seems rather pussy5 foot around the issue? I mean, you can compare and contrast how they are acting6 in the United Sates both with individual tax avoidance and corporations that help them do it.
I think this is government facing both ways. On the one hand, they know the public really furious if they find unfairness in the system. If you are very rich or if you are a big corporation, you can find your way around paying tax. If you are like the rest of us, you pay through PAYE, you just pay your dues automatically. They are facing brief which I think you get that with Steven Green. I am astonished today that Steven Green is not answering questions. He was the boss at that time. Either he knew what was going on, so he was complicit, or he didn’t know, and then he wasn’t on top of his job properly. Either way, he should be brought to the account. He was the boss. He has questions to answer.
You think you got any chance of getting him in front of you committee?
Well, we have got a session interesting enough this Wednesdays already in our diary when we are going to be talking to HRMC and obviously, this issue will comp up. And I think following on that, if we think that it is relevant that we call to the committee, either the bank or Steven Green, and my committee wants to do that, we’ll do it.
And other questions. It’s interesting. You talk about HMRC, because you know as we referred to earlier, in terms of the amount of money they have recovered and then the actions they take. They seem prepared to do deals, don’t they? Would not just with wealthy individuals but with big companies, and if you hold them over the calls before for deals with companies like Vodaphone and others.
Yeah, they do. And I just don’t think it is right. There is a clear law. I think sweetheart deals aren’t right. They argue that it’s quicker to get the money in if you do a deal than if you litigate. But I think you could say the same about a benefit scrounger? It’s quicker to get the money back than to take them through the courts. Why do we treat one group of citizens one way and another group of citizens the other way? And I do think it is powerful people don’t want to be dragged before the court. People don’t want to be fined. They don’t want to be sent to prison. If you demonstrate, you know, through your cases that you will pursue people through the court, I think probably that’s the best way of stopping people getting involved in these outrageous7 practices.
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1
protagonists
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| n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者 | |
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2
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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3
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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4
taxpayers
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| 纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 ) | |
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5
pussy
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| n.(儿语)小猫，猫咪 | |
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6
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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7
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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