Self-employed ad is 'offensive'

A row has broken out about a Government advertisement depicting self-employed people as tax dodgers.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has submitted a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regarding the advertisement in the national press placed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The advert, publicising a hotline to report self-employed people who do not pay their taxes, depicts a plumber hiding under a kitchen sink.

The accompanying text, the source of the FSB's complaint, reads: 'With your help, we'll make sure self employed people who don't pay their tax have nowhere to hide…'.

Simon Sweetman, FSB Tax Spokesman and regular contributor to UKTECH, said: "We are disappointed that a campaign that could have gained widespread support has instead resorted to a clumsy advert that tars all of the UK's 2.72 million self-employed people with the same brush. The vast majority of self-employed people abide by the law and pay their taxes.

Simon Sweetman "We find it particularly offensive that the implication in the advert is that all self-employed people do not pay their taxes. The self-employed in the UK contribute to the economic well-being of this country and this advert is a harmful and misleading attack upon them.

"We have therefore complained to the ASA formally about this advertisement and we hope that HMRC will withdraw the advert and rethink their campaign."