LABOUR left-wing MP Katy Clark slammed the planned closure of 14 tax offices yesterday as “economic madness” while billions go uncollected from corporate avoiders.

The cuts announcement came as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) confirmed that £34 billion in tax was not collected last year.

“The beneficiaries of these closures will not be the majority, but the large corporations and wealthy individuals who will be able to afford specialist accountants and lawyers to hide their wealth,” said Ms Clark.

Civil Service union PCS said that the closure of the 14 offices threatened 450 jobs and that with a further 690 low-paid administrative assistant jobs due to be axed in the personal taxes division, more than 1,000 jobs were at risk.

“This political and economic vandalism is even more stark and outrageous when … tens of billions of pounds is lost to our public finances largely through tax evasion and avoidance,” said PCS leader Mark Serwotka.