Alexander beefs up 'affluence unit' to target rich tax dodgers

Danny Alexander has pledged to expand the range and scope of the "affluence unit", set up to investigate the finances of Britain's richest people.

The number of staff at the HM Revenue and Custom division for investigating the tax affairs of the wealthy will be increased from 200 to 300 and it will now investigate 500,000 people worth more than £1m.

Mr Alexander, right, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said that by "casting the net more widely", the unit could improve on the £44m it had retrieved for the Treasury in its first year.

He told the BBC: "It is targeted at those people whose affairs are risky. It is not going to mean that anyone who's got a house worth more than £1m is going to get a knock on the door from the taxman."

The unit will also scrutinise those who have property and assets overseas. An HMRC source said that a "serial avoiders unit" would be set up as well as a "range of interventions" to retrieve money owed to the Treasury.

The Liberal Democrats would also like to impose a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2m, a policy blocked by the Prime Minister after it was suggested earlier this year by the Business Secretary, Vince Cable. Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he "still believed in a mansion tax" but had failed to persuade his Conservative coalition partners to back the policy.

A new Coalition drive to hit the rich will also include separate moves to stop high-earning BBC personalities from using tax avoidance schemes and fines for tax-dodging footballers.