Strike ‘costing fortune in tax’

Press, 30 April 1981, Page 8

Strike ‘costing fortune in tax’

NZPA London A huge $7960 million taxes backlog has built up because of industrial action by British civil servants, and most of it will never reach the Government’s coffers, union leaders have said. They said that their stranglehold on tax collection has stopped 47 per cent of P.A.Y.E. and national insurance contributions, and 45 per cent of V.A.T.(valuedadded tax). They predicted that most of the money “will be lost and lost for ever.” The unions are locked in a battle with the Government over a pay increase. They are claiming a rise of 13 per cent, the Government refuses to go above 7 per cent. Campbell Christie, the deputy general secretary of the Society of Civil Servants said: “Our forecast is that the Government is going to have to write off the V.A.T. backlog of £lOOO million (about $2400 million) since March 9.

- “All the evidence is that much of that money will be lost and lost for ever.” Tony Christopher, the Inland Revenue Staff Federation’s general secretary, said that that was substantially true of P.A.Y.E. and National Insurance as well, where the backlog is $5556 million. “In spite of early enthusiasm of some employers to pay, that enthusiasm has waned when they see their competitors not paying,” he said. He also said that the Civil Service unions “are stronger now than they were when it started — stronger financially and stronger in morale.” 1 More industrial action by Civil Aviation Authority employees is planned. Yesterday they hit Manchester airtraffic control centre and Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Belfast airports. Heathrow was shut down on Monday and will be hit again tomorrow.