|
Yet
that still leaves the Treasury with cash generated from
VAT on the premium-rate calls. MPs said that it would be
unacceptable if the Treasury was the only organisation to
benefit financially from the affair.
The
faked phone-ins took place while Gordon Brown was
Chancellor and as Prime Minister he and Mr Darling, his
successor at No 11, are under pressure to make a donation
equivalent to the VAT windfall to charity.
Adam
Price, a Plaid Cymru MP who has asked Scotland Yard to
investigate the ITV scandals, said: “It is tantamount to
the proceeds of crime. There is no case for the Treasury
holding on to the money. Ministers have been critical of
the deceptions so the Government should not benefit. The
cash should be donated to charity.”
Nigel
Evans MP, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select
Committee, said: “The Treasury has a moral duty to hand
over cash that was stolen from viewers. The television
companies have paid their share of the money back. The
Treasury must not become the only beneficiary of this
scandal.”
HM
Revenue and Customs said that broadcasters could reclaim
the VAT if they refund the cost of calls directly to the
consumers. A spokesman said: “In normal circumstances,
if an individual receives a refund for something they have
paid VAT on, the tax would be given back in full.”
However,
if any unclaimed assets are donated to charity,
broadcasters will be unable to claim back the VAT.
Industry sources expect the majority of funds from the
phone-in scandals to remain unclaimed, resulting in
millions of pounds of benefit for the Treasury.
Jonathan
de Wilton, a tax expert at Grant Thornton, said that there
was no law to say that VAT should be refunded by the
Government if the activity for which it has been paid
proves to be fraudulent.
Mobile
phone operators have also profited from the phone-in
scandal, but a spokesman for O2 said: “ITV is refunding
the customer the full cost, so there is no more to be paid
back.”
Source
:
Times
Online - UK, dated 29/10/2007 |
