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281 enquiry centres to shut and another 8,000 jobs to go...

s the government continues to target the most vulnerable with cuts in services, out of work benefits and the imposition of draconian penalties like the bedroom tax and sanctions on claimantsthe big banks are still paying out billions in bonuses. State owned RBS announced a loss in profits at the same time as it announced it would still be paying their execs bonuses so that they werent enticed to work elsewhere! The increasing reliance on foodbanks in the sixth richest economy of the world just serves to highlight the growing inequality between those who have and those who dont. It is no longer just the most vulnerable having to turn to foodbanks. With low wages and under employment many thousands of people are having to seek assistance in a way that would have been thought of as a national scandal even ten years ago and which certainly is one now. Its set against this backdrop of growing inequality and an ideological attack on working class people that individual government departments are continuing to axe jobs.

STOP THE JOB CUTS STOP OFFICE CLOSURES

Cleaners striking back at SOAS, central London

HMRC over the last 10 years, which can only get worse if further cuts are made. HMRCs view that their proposed new service provides a better service by diverting taxpayers from a free, face-toface appointment to costly, under-staffed telephone lines is completely flawed.

for PCS to develop an industrial action campaign to stop the Enquiry Centre closures and the job cuts. We need a ballot for action as soon as possible and no later than April rather than waiting till May or June. The longer we wait to call for action, the more demoralised members will be. We are in the fight of our lives and cannot allow the government and HMRC to think that we are weak. National extended industrial action can stop these closures and job cuts. With a coalition government that is tearing itself apart there is no better time to go on the offensive.

Bob Crow 1961-2014

Affluence

Missing

The very department responsible for ensuring that taxes, which pay for public services, are assessed, enforced and collectedHMRChave now announced another set of closures. 281 Face-to-Face Enquiry Centres are set to go by June this year with a further 8,000 job cuts. PCS is fundamentally opposed to this decision. Enquiry Centres provide a vital public service, allowing taxpayers to access free, expert advice from highly skilled HMRC staff. And why are they seeking to make cuts to services at all when we know from research carried out by Richard Murphy for PCS that there is 120 billion in tax going missing every year as a result of tax avoided, evaded or simply not collected? This is money that could be used to plug the national deficit the government is so obsessed with and we know that the money not collected is partly as a result of the 250 office closures and the 25,000 job cuts in

In addition 1,300 people currently working in Face-to-Face are now being forced to make extremely difficult decisions about their future in HMRC. The coalition government should stop cosying up to their friends in the City and ensure the Square Mile pays more in tax. George Osborne has, however, already declared that he believes in a low tax economy, so working people are expected to continue to suffer from the hardships of permanent austerity while the level of handouts in the state sponsored financial sector is a national scandal. As the rest of us live through austerity, the Citys age of affluence continues regardless. It has never been more important

It was with great sadness that many received the news of RMT leader Bob Crows sudden, untimely death on Tuesday 11 March. It is a tribute to him that many trade unionists not in the RMT, faced with attacks by the bosses said that they wished Bob was their leader or that they could join the RMT. His willingness to call strike ballots and to use his members industrial strength helped forge a stronger union. A full obituary is available in Socialist Worker here: http://bit.ly/1kLZBgQ

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