Liberal Democrat Tom Brake MP joins the Bid to fight Tax Avoidance

It's time for Britain's wealthiest individuals and corporations to stop their shady tax avoidance schemes and pay their fair share like the rest of us, Liberal Democrat Tom Brake MP and other sponsors of new legislation in Parliament believe.

Tom Brake MP is a co-sponsor of Labour MP Michael Meacher's Private Member's Bill that would outlaw any financial transaction in which the primary purpose is tax avoidance or evasion. The Bill, introduced into the House of Commons last Thursday, shifts the burden of proof: rather than HM Revenues & Customs proving that a suspected evasion was illegitimate, the new system would place the onus on a suspected tax cheat to prove that a given transaction was legitimate. Under the new legislation, HMRC would have the power to declare a dubious transaction null and void, leaving the company to challenge it in court.

"We must stop those citizens and corporations who have the means but not the inclination to fulfill their financial obligations dodging their responsibilities. If we are all in this together, they must cough up their fair share of tax," Tom Brake said.

Tax avoidance schemes have been in the news during the past week. Several high profile tax avoiders have been revealed to be associated with an international income shelter plan known as "K2." Some estimates put the loss of revenue due to tax avoidance as high as £42 billion.

Meanwhile, speaking on Sunday, Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the Coalition Government, has calculated that an ordinary person's tax bill could be reduced by as much as 2p in the pound if tax avoidance (sometimes called the "tax gap") could be reduced by just a quarter.

And now, the Chairman of the powerful House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge MP, has announced that parliament is going to launch an investigation into tax loopholes.