David Cameron will attempt to seize
back the initiative on tax as he faces MPs for the first time since the
Panama Papers scandal erupted.
He will tell the Commons the
government is bringing forward plans for criminal penalties on companies
whose employees encourage or enable tax evasion.But Labour is still demanding answers over Mr Cameron's own tax affairs.
It comes after the PM published data on his 2009-15 tax and earnings including a £200,000 gift from his mother.
The figures were released in attempt to defuse a row about Mr Cameron's investment in his late father's offshore fund, details of which had earlier emerged in a leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm.
The summary of tax returns released by Mr Cameron show he received two payments of £100,000 from his mother Mary in 2011, a year after he inherited £300,000 from his father.
Personal finance experts say it is not unusual for wealthy families to use this kind of "tax planning" to legally avoid inheritance tax.
Downing Street said the payments had been an attempt to "balance" the sums received by all the Cameron children, as the prime minister's older brother had inherited the family home.
Meanwhile, the BBC understands Chancellor George Osborne is considering publishing his tax returns "within the next few days". Downing Street has said it is up to individual ministers to decide whether they wish to publish this information.
The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said No 10 had struggled to get a grip on events and there were question marks about its ability to get on with the normal business of government while fighting an energy-sapping EU referendum campaign.
Queen's Speech
Mr Cameron had already been pushing for greater tax transparency and is due to hold a summit on beating corruption of all kinds in London next month.He said: "This government has done more than any other to take action against corruption in all its forms, but we will go further.
"That is why we will legislate this year to hold companies who fail to stop their employees facilitating tax evasion criminally liable."
. . . Courtesy ::: BBC
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