Member

There are several things that the taskforce needs to achieve. First, we must recognise high street tax evasion as a systemic issue, not just a series of isolated cases. Weaknesses in company identification and verification at Companies House, gaps in licensing frameworks and opaque property ownership structures allow non-compliant businesses to reappear repeatedly. Secondly, we should strengthen corporate accountability by increasing penalties for landlords and letting agents who knowingly enable tax abuse or repeated non-payment of business rates within their properties. Thirdly, the Government should consider stronger licensing regimes for certain cash-intensive sectors. Moving from voluntary to mandatory licensing in areas such as barbering and hairdressing would help to ensure that persistently non-compliant operators could be identified and, where necessary, shut down. We need only look at the Dutch Bibob Act to see how effective a proportionate but properly functioning licensing regime can be in driving out bad businesses and regenerating local economies.