Tax bills, Tesco, cash machines and retirement

The taxman’s failure to properly pursue the UK’s richest people risks undermining confidence in the entire system, according to parliament’s spending watchdog. The Guardian reports that the Public Accounts Committee has concluded that Britain’s super-rich appear to receive preferential treatment from HM Revenue & Customs. The MPs’ report, released this morning, scrutinised HMRC’s specialist unit, which collects tax from high net-worth individuals with more than £20 million. It found that ‘the amount of tax paid by this very wealthy group of individuals has actually fallen by £1 billion since the unit was set up’ in 2009 – even as tax receipts rose to £23 billion. Tesco Tesco’s decision to buy Booker Group, the UK’s largest food wholesaler, dominates the business news today. The BBC reports that the £3.7 billion deal will create the ‘UK’s leading food business’. While the Booker Group name may not be familiar to many people, it is the country’s biggest cash and carry operator, and supplies a wide range of products to 700,000 convenience stores, grocers, pubs and restaurants.