Saturday Interview: The man who makes sure that we all pay our dues

Saturday Interview: The man who makes sure that we all pay our dues

Richard Summersgill, Jersey’s new Comptroller of Taxes, speaks to Christine Herbert

TAX is probably not something most of us want to think about more than once a year, when the annual white envelope lands on our doorsteps.

The Island’s new Comptroller of Taxes, Richard Summersgill, offers a different perspective.

‘I’ve always enjoyed tax,’ he says, ‘because it pretty much touches every aspect of life and business, even though finance and tax jobs are often portrayed as rather dull.’

In fact, the Yorkshireman has spent his entire career working for the UK tax authorities, most recently as director of investigations overseeing 2,500 staff conducting criminal investigations in the UK and overseas, including the most serious crimes involving money-laundering and large-scale excise smuggling and, increasingly, online attacks.

‘People trying to claim money they weren’t entitled to, repayment frauds, people trying to attack systems and cause damage – cyber terrorism, cyber vandalism,’ he explains.

Not such a dull job, then.

‘For example, excise smuggling – the UK reckons about £5 billion a year is lost from people bringing in container-loads of alcohol and tobacco, trying to get it through the ports and out onto the streets.

‘We came across some very unpleasant examples of repayment frauds, frauds against the tax system, some of that money used criminally as well.

‘There’s always a stream of prosecutions in the UK, which is very expensive and labour-intensive.’

In comparison, taking a job in Jersey might be considered dull.

But the new Comptroller says he has come at the right time – when money is in the budget to modernise the Island’s somewhat ‘archaic’ tax system.

‘Actually, I’ve always been impressed by Jersey’s approach to tax and managing its economy,’ he said.

‘I think Jersey’s good at listening to good advice, and following it.

‘Professionally, I was attracted by the opportunity to apply some things I was doing in the UK.’

Not least, these will include investment in new technology to put all our tax returns online – an investment of about £9 million – as well as preparing for same-sex marriage and ‘individual taxation’ for married women and, possibly, bringing together the Social Security and tax payment systems.

In addition, he intends to get tougher on tax evasion, with harsher penalties for those who fail to pay up on time.

What is also apparent is that with years of experience under his belt, this Comptroller is not likely to be fazed by a job that might overwhelm others, including as it does the introduction next year of a new international agreement – the Common Reporting Standard – that will involve the tax office in collecting information about the clients of Island finance firms and relaying that to the authorities in more than 50 countries worldwide.

‘That is quite an overhead, particularly for a relatively small office of about hundred people.’

Born and brought up in Skipton, Mr Summersgill studied Russian and English literature at Liverpool University and joined the Inland Revenue in 1984, moving on to Customs and Excise.

‘They were desperate for people to go to London in those days, and I spent a lot of time working on excise duties – all the searching of people’s belongings, quite a lot of work in breweries and wine warehouses, VAT, and quite a lot of policy work – the part of the UK budget related to beer tax and duty.

‘I loved going round to different businesses, seeing how they operated – distilleries, printers, people who made crisps.

‘I found that constantly interesting.’

From there, Mr Summersgill was made head of VAT operations, overseeing the inspectors, and then ran the tax credit system and child benefits system, from 2010 becoming director of local compliance overseeing a staff of 15,000, including VAT and tax inspectors, some customs and excise, and policing the national minimum wage.

‘That could involve joint task forces, such as the Home Office and the Gangmasters’ Authority, making sure people were not being put in dangerous situations.’

The Gangmasters’ Authority, he explained, was set up after an incident in 2004 involving Chinese cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay.

‘We often went along, too, because people who are breaking the rules tend not to pay their taxes.’

The job also involved investigating people who had got their taxes wrong ‘from innocent error, to recklessness, or negligence’, as well as those deliberately evading tax.

He was also involved ‘on the margins’ in offshore tax evasion activity, although the specialised work was overseen by a fellow director.

In 2007 Mr Summersgill was rewarded for his work on improving the tax credit system with a CBE.

However, the announcement of the award coincided with the loss in the post of discs containing confidential information about millions of child benefit recipients, at a time when he was heading that department – a position not lost on the national media.

‘It was a very difficult time because the office – a long, modern office with more than 1,000 people – was searched by the police.

‘Even now, I’m not sure how to pitch this.

‘I was the director of child benefit operations, and the loss of the data did occur at the time I was head of the child benefit office.

‘But there was a report done, and if you read it, I think you would see that the data was not lost by the child benefit office – it was lost by HMRC.

‘HMRC is such a large organisation, and that data was actually downloaded and sent to the National Audit Office by others, so I think it would be unfair to characterise me as the man who lost the data.

‘I think it rather upset my mother, although on the plus side, it really improved HMRC’s game in terms of data protection, and I think the whole government, actually, significantly improved their procedures after that.’

On a more positive note, receiving the CBE at Buckingham Palace was ‘a great day, especially for my parents, and a wonderful experience’.

In fact, some of his extended family have lived in Jersey since the 1950s.

‘My aunt came here and although she later returned to Yorkshire, some of my cousins stayed.’

Prior to moving here three months ago, Mr Summersgill ‘knew the Island slightly’, but as a keen walker he is fast discovering the north coast as ‘a very good substitute’ for the Yorkshire Dales, where he still has a home.

‘St Catherine’s, through Fliquet and Rozel and up to the north coast, is beautiful.

‘The entire Island is beautiful, and you can walk anywhere. It’s gorgeous.’

In terms of the day job, though, what is it that drives him?

‘I’ve always fundamentally believed that “taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilised society”, to quote Wendell Holmes.

‘Most societies believe that everyone should pay their fair share under the law, at the right time.

‘If you want a good, decent society to live in, if you want to be protected and given the space to grow, you have to pay your membership fee.

‘Most people don’t have much choice – they pay their taxes and they want to know that everyone else is paying too.

‘The role of the Comptroller, like any other role in tax, is to make sure people are paying their fair share.

‘I think that’s what people would expect.’

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