Chancellor in £5bn tax raid on Britons' Swiss accounts

The Chancellor has launched a £5bn tax raid on Britons keeping money in Swiss bank accounts, who he has labelled as bad as benefits cheats.

George Osborne announced an agreement with the Swiss authorities to attempt to recover tax on an estimated £125bn kept in the famously discreet banking system.

Announcing the deal, Mr Osborne launched a strong attack on wealthy tax evaders, likening them to benefits cheats. Telegraph MORE

Chancellor George Osborne will meet European finance ministers today to discuss the details of a possible bail-out of Portugal, amid fears that British tax-payers will have to find more than £4 billion as part of a rescue package. Telegraph MORE

The US budget watchdog has cut the country's debt forecast. Congressional analysts painted a rosier picture of the US budgetary picture for the next decade on the back of this month's deal to increase the debt ceiling, but offered a bleaker portrait of the country's economic recovery. FT MORE

HMRC has lost out on £27.4bn over the past five years because of the economic downturn combined with an over-complicated tax code which has left the troubled body unable to collect the money, a report reveals. The total is equivalent to £200 per year for each household in the country. Daily Mail MORE

UK consumers are putting spending on big ticket items on hold as they grow gloomier about the outlook for the economy and their own finances, suggest a report released by the Nationwide Building Society today. Guardian MORE