Comments by "Curious Crow" (@CuriousCrow-mp4cx) on "The government’s losing nearly £60 billion a year to fraud" video.

  1. Tax officers are like the police. They have specialists and employ forensic accountants. Thus, the nose for problems often proceeds the brain for detangling them. You need boots on the ground to do inspections and to know both the accountants and the businesses. And the tax inspectors should be highly trained and highly resourced too.
    2
  2. I think you are mistaken. Leasehold is the problematic land tenure, not Freehold, which is held free of any charges to a landlord and can only override by The Crown. Not knowing that is strange, as anyone buying a home would know the difference. And it leasehold is not a tax, but rent for the right to occupy and use land for a limited time. It's a form of subletting a freehold owned by a landlord. Is it a scam? Not really, if the costs are fair. But the lack of mechanisms to challenge assessments and to ensure that the landlord fufils his obligations under the contract creates the possibility for extortion. Also, the sums demanded to extend or renew leaseholds when close to the end of their duration can be onerous, and are not open to challenge either. But should leasehold be dispensed with, or should it be reformed or replaced? These are reasonable questions, and they have yet to be tackled. Property rights are a tough nut to crack, because it is potentially amending principles of ownership of land, the most protected form of property everywhere. Good luck with that.
    2