Labour leader Ed Miliband has insisted his party is more interested in tackling tax dodging by “hedge funds” rather than “hedge trimmers” after Ed Balls came under fire for suggesting people should insist on getting a receipt for the smallest cash-in-hand jobs.
The shadow chancellor said he always demanded a written record, even if it was merely for £10 to trim a hedge.
Mr Balls’s comments were criticised as “absurd” by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who said it showed Labour’s “complete lack of understanding” about business.
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna dismissed the row as “a storm in a teacup” and insisted Mr Balls was not suggesting that everyone had an obligation to follow his lead by demanding receipts for minor cash-in-hand jobs.
The remarks have fuelled the political row about tax avoidance following revelations about HSBC’s Swiss arm and Mr Miliband’s accusations that the Tories were funded by “dodgy donors”.
Mr Miliband said: “The point that I would make, that Ed Balls would make, that all of us would make, is what’s important is that people pay their fair share of taxes and that’s what counts.”
